Why Do You Deceive Yourself

In the name of Allah, All-Merciful, Most Merciful
Distributed by
Millat Centre
Translated by: Keith Dearn

Edited by: Uthman Ibrahim-Morrison
Abbreviations used:
(saas-sall-Allahu 'alyahi wa sallam): May Allah bless him and
grant him peace (following a reference to Prophet Muhammad)
(as-'alayhi's-salam): Peace be upon him (following a reference
to the prophets)
All translations from the Qur'an are from The Noble Qur'an: a New
Rendering of its Meaning in English
by Hajj Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley, published by Bookwork, Norwich,
UK. 1420 CE/1999 AH.
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www.harunyahya.com
WHY DO YOU
DECEIVE
YOURSELF?
O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord?

(Qur'an, 82: 6)
HARUN YAHYA
2005
To the Reader
A special chapter is assigned to the collapse of the theory of evolution be-
cause this theory constitutes the basis of all anti-spiritual philosophies.
Since Darwinism rejects the fact of creation – and therefore, Allah's exis-
tence – over the last 140 years it has caused many people to abandon their
faith or fall into doubt. It is therefore an imperative service, a very impor-
tant duty to show everyone that this theory is a deception. Since some read-
ers may find the chance to read only one of our books, we think it appropri-
ate to devote a chapter to summarize this subject.
All the author's books explain faith-related issues in light of Qur'anic

verses, and invite readers to learn Allah's words and to live by them. All the
subjects concerning Allah's verses are explained so as to leave no doubt or
room for questions in the reader's mind. The books' sincere, plain, and flu-
ent style ensures that everyone of every age and from every social group can
easily understand them. Thanks to their effective, lucid narrative, they can
be read at one sitting. Even those who rigorously reject spirituality are in-
fluenced by the facts these books document and cannot refute the truthful-
ness of their contents.
This and all the other books by the author can be read individually, or dis-
cussed in a group. Readers eager to profit from the books will find discus-
sion very useful, letting them relate their reflections and experiences to one
another.
In addition, it will be a great service to Islam to contribute to the publica-

tion and reading of these books, written solely for the pleasure of Allah.
The author's books are all extremely convincing. For this reason, to commu-
nicate true religion to others, one of the most effective methods is encour-
aging them to read these books.
We hope the reader will look through the reviews of his other books at the
back of this book. His rich source material on faith-related issues is very
useful, and a pleasure to read.
In these books, unlike some other books, you will not find the author's per-
sonal views, explanations based on dubious sources, styles that are unob-
servant of the respect and reverence due to sacred subjects, nor hopeless,
pessimistic arguments that create doubts in the mind and deviations in the
heart.
WHY DO YOU
DECEIVE
YOURSELF?

(Qur'an, 82: 6)
HARUN YAHYA
2005
About the Author
Now writing under the pen-name of HARUN YAHYA, he was

born in Ankara in 1956. Having completed his primary and secondary
education in Ankara, he studied arts at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan
University and philosophy at Istanbul University. Since the 1980s, he
has published many books on political, scientific, and faith-related is-
sues. Harun Yahya is well-known as the author of important works
disclosing the imposture of evolutionists, their invalid claims, and the
dark liaisons between Darwinism and such bloody ideologies as fas-
cism and communism.
Harun Yahya's works, translated into 41 different languages, con-
stitute a collection for a total of more than 45,000 pages with 30,000 il-
lustrations.
His pen-name is a composite of the names Harun (Aaron) and
Yahya (John), in memory of the two esteemed Prophets who fought
against their people's lack of faith. The Prophet's seal on his books'
covers is symbolic and is linked to their contents. It represents the
Qur'an (the Final Scripture) and Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace), last of the prophets. Under the guidance of
the Qur'an and the Sunnah (teachings of the Prophet [may Allah bless
him and grant him peace]), the author makes it his purpose to dis-
prove each fundamental tenet of godless ideologies and to have the
"last word," so as to completely silence the objections raised against re-
ligion. He uses the seal of the final Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), who attained ultimate wisdom and moral perfection,
as a sign of his intention to offer the last word.
All of Harun Yahya's works share one single goal: to convey the
Qur'an's message, encourage readers to consider basic faith-related is-
sues such as Allah's existence and unity and the Hereafter; and to ex-
pose godless systems' feeble foundations and perverted ideologies.
Harun Yahya enjoys a wide readership in many countries, from
India to America, England to Indonesia, Poland to Bosnia, Spain to
Brazil, Malaysia to Italy, France to Bulgaria and Russia. Some of his
books are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, Urdu, Arabic, Albanian, Chinese, Swahili, Hausa, Dhivehi
(spoken in Mauritius), Russian, Serbo-Croat (Bosnian), Polish, Malay,
Uygur Turkish, Indonesian, Bengali, Danish and Swedish.
Greatly appreciated all around the world, these works have been
instrumental in many people recovering faith in Allah and gaining
deeper insights into their faith. His books' wisdom and sincerity, to-
gether with a distinct style that's easy to understand, directly affect
anyone who reads them. Those who seriously consider these books,
can no longer advocate atheism or any other perverted ideology or ma-
terialistic philosophy, since these books are characterized by rapid ef-
fectiveness, definite results, and irrefutability. Even if they continue to
do so, it will be only a sentimental insistence, since these books refute
such ideologies from their very foundations. All contemporary move-
ments of denial are now ideologically defeated, thanks to the books
written by Harun Yahya.
This is no doubt a result of the Qur'an's wisdom and lucidity. The
author modestly intends to serve as a means in humanity's search for
Allah's right path. No material gain is sought in the publication of
these works.
Those who encourage others to read these books, to open their
minds and hearts and guide them to become more devoted servants of
Allah, render an invaluable service.
Meanwhile, it would only be a waste of time and energy to prop-
agate other books that create confusion in people's minds, lead them
into ideological chaos, and that clearly have no strong and precise ef-
fects in removing the doubts in people's hearts, as also verified from
previous experience. It is impossible for books devised to emphasize
the author's literary power rather than the noble goal of saving people
from loss of faith, to have such a great effect. Those who doubt this can
readily see that the sole aim of Harun Yahya's books is to overcome
disbelief and to disseminate the Qur'an's moral values. The success
and impact of this service are manifested in the readers' conviction.
One point should be kept in mind: The main reason for the con-
tinuing cruelty, conflict, and other ordeals endured by the vast major-
ity of people is the ideological prevalence of disbelief. This can be
ended only with the ideological defeat of disbelief and by conveying
the wonders of creation and Qur'anic morality so that people can live
by it. Considering the state of the world today, leading into a down-
ward spiral of violence, corruption and conflict, clearly this service
must be provided speedily and effectively, or it may be too late.
In this effort, the books of Harun Yahya assume a leading role. By
the will of Allah, these books will be a means through which people in
the twenty-first century will attain the peace, justice, and happiness
promised in the Qur'an.
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Remembering the Purpose of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Being Sincerely Religious without Deceiving Yourself . . . . . . . . . .20
What Lies Do People Deceive Themselves With? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
The End Awaiting Those Who Deceive Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . .64
The Advantages of Sincerity over Self-Deception . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
The Deception of Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Introduction
he lifestyles and life goals of the millions of people who live
T in non-religious communities are very similar to one another.

Even if they seem different at first glance, they are still really
the same at the end of the day because even if the conditions in which
they live differ, their desires, passions, ambitions, plans, ideals and as-
pirations for the life of the world are practically identical.
The years during which a person's character begins to take shape
are the childhood years. During these years children live very carefree
lives in ignorance of the world. Then they face school life and the
teenage years. During these years ambition is limited to the typical de-
sire to have a wide circle of friends, to be popular at school, to wear de-
signer clothes and to put on a show for people. Then school finishes
and careers begin. During working life a person tries to better himself
in his own profession, make more money and achieve promotion. He
devotes all his time and energies to this. At the same time he tries to
find and marry a good wife and produce a family. In his own eyes, the
only important thing in the world is the establishment of a happy
home. In short, he is born, he is educated, he enters working life, he
tries to the best of his ability to earn money and respect and later he
marries off his children and becomes a grandfather… And he lives
with such limited worldly aims and ideals.
Introduction 11
The years pass quickly and then all of a sudden, he faces the
greatest and most inescapable truth of life. The time of death comes.
Whatever his age at the time, he departs from the world.
Until that moment he has thought of death very little or not at all.
He has seen a number of people around him die but he has always re-
garded his own death as something far off. Throughout his life he has
failed even to grasp the idea of death because his mind has been so oc-
cupied with worldly things that the thought of death has not managed
to cross it. For this reason, he is far removed from essential considera-
tions such as Allah's good pleasure and the Garden and the Fire. He
has been unable to understand the true purpose of life by reflecting
upon such realities. Throughout his time in the world he has pursued
aims, plans and ideals very different from those that are really impor-
tant. He has worked very hard for worldly things but is totally unpre-
pared for the Hereafter.
While in this condition, he meets with death when he least ex-
pects it, unprepared and confused like someone who suddenly
awakes from sleep. Feeling regret at last, he wants to turn back but it is
now too late. Allah describes the situation of this person and those like
him in Surat as-Sajda:
Say: "The Angel of Death, who has been given charge of you,
will take you back and then you will be sent back to your
Lord." If only you could see the evildoers hanging their
heads in shame before their Lord: "Our Lord, we have seen
and we have heard, so send us back again and we will act
rightly. Truly we now have certainty." (Surat as-Sajda: 11-12)
So, how does a person wind up in this position? How does he
manage to avoid reality until the time comes when he feels a regret for
which there is no cure? How does he manage to ignore the purpose for
which he is placed in the world?
12 WHY DO YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF?
There are various defense mechanisms which people use to ig-

nore the truths of life and to console themselves by doing so. One of
these, perhaps the most effective, is self-deception. A person who de-
ceives himself believes he can evade all realities, including death and
all responsibilities. In fact self-deception is not a solution. On the con-
trary, failure to understand the true purpose of existence in this world
sets a person on a path that leads straight to Hell. What a person really
needs to accomplish is to avoid deceiving himself by ignoring the
truth and take the maximum possible advantage of the period that
Allah has allotted to him in the world.
Now, think about all this in terms of yourself. Up to now you may
have lived along the lines described above. You may have failed to
think about the true purpose of life, you may have put aside your re-
sponsibilities towards Allah, Who created you, and you may have de-
ceived yourself. If you do not want to meet death suddenly while in
this state and to be faced with eternal regret, you should read what this
book has to say and think very seriously about it because in this book
we point out the matters about which people deceive themselves and
the truths which they ignore.
Do not forget that waking up and seeing the truth at the moment
of death does nobody any good. Allah has given us a clear warning
about this:
Give from what We have provided for you before death
comes to one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would
give me a little more time so that I can give charity and be one
of the righteous!" Allah will not give anyone more time, once
their time has come. Allah is aware of what you do. (Surat al-
Munafiqun: 10-11)
Remembering the
Purpose of Creation
f you are in the street, look around you. If you are at home, look
I through the window. Think, too, about all the places on the face
of the Earth which you cannot see at this moment; the oceans,
the lakes and the mountains, the millions of people other than those
you can see and the millions of living creatures you never encounter in
life… Finally, leave the world and think about the universe, a bound-
less space that accommodates hundreds of millions of galaxies with
hundreds of millions of stars, planets, comets and a great many more
celestial bodies…
Now listen to your conscience sincerely and think. Why and how
do all these creatures and things exist? Living and non-living alike,
how do they carry on a harmonious existence together within such a
flawless system? What is the divine purpose behind this magnificence
in the universe and the superior characteristics which living things –
especially human beings – possess? What are all these things, particu-
larly man, the only being with consciousness on the face of the Earth,
doing in the world?
We are told the true purpose of creation in the Qur'an which Allah
sent down as a guide to His servants. This purpose is to serve our Lord
Who created us and allows us to live. Allah describes this purpose in a
verse of the Qur'an as follows:
… I only created jinn and man to worship Me. (Surat adh-
Dhariyat: 56)
So the world with all the features described above, and its seas,
lakes, oceans, flowers, trees, mountains and living things, is an envi-
ronment specially created by Allah to test whether or not people fulfill
this obligation. The universe and all the systems in it, stars, planets
and other celestial bodies, have been created so that people may see
the greatness and boundless mercy of our Lord and praise His power.
In the same way, each of the events which a person experiences in life
and all the places in which he finds himself are parts of the test which
he undergoes in the world. Allah informs us in the following verse of
the Qur'an that the purpose of creation and placing people in the
world is to test them:
We created man from a mingled drop to test him, and We
made him hearing and seeing. (Surat al-Insan: 2)
In this testing environment, a person is responsible for consider-
ing Allah's instructions and prohibitions at every moment and acting
in such a way as to earn His approval. We are told in the Qur'an that
people who reject or evade this responsibility will be repaid for eter-
nity with the torment of Hell because of their enormous ingratitude
for all the blessings Allah provides.
In spite of this most people are strangely insensitive. Forgetting
the true purpose of their lives, they find different priorities for them-
selves and adopt different aims. They struggle for months, even years,
for worldly purposes but they do not even want to think about their
Remembering the Purpose of Creation 15
responsibilities to Allah. They never consider the possibility that the

consequence in the Hereafter for irresponsibility in this world is Hell.
However, there is not a single person on the face of the Earth who can
claim to be unaware of these truths. Allah has shown them to people in
every age from that of Prophet Adam (as) onwards. He has sent down
the Book that announces Him and teaches how He should be followed
and He has sent His prophets. After all this, people cannot plead igno-
rance. A verse of the Qur'an reminds us of this truth:
Messengers bringing good news and giving warning, so that
people will have no argument against Allah after the coming
of the messengers. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat an-
Nisa': 165)
The prophets sent by Allah, the books He has sent down and like-
wise the advice given to people by the believers are all vehicles for this
teaching. Throughout history a great many believers have invited oth-
ers to join the religion of Allah and have warned them about the Day of
Judgment by pointing out the existence of Paradise and Hell.
Aside from these, let us suppose that a person says that he has
never heard anything about the true purpose of life, has never been ad-
vised of this by anybody and has never read Allah's Book. As we stated
at the outset, by thinking about creation and the flawless systems
around him, such a person can still realize that these were brought into
being by an infinitely powerful Creator for a definite purpose. As a liv-
ing being who was himself created, he can understand his responsibili-
ties towards our Creator because Allah created people with a con-
science which tells them what is right and true. People who evaluate
what is around them by listening to the voice of their conscience, can
arrive at these truths. A story we are told in the Qur'an about Prophet
Ibrahim (as) is an outstanding and enlightening example:
Because of that We showed Ibrahim the dominions of the

heavens and the Earth so that he might be one of the people
of certainty. When night covered him he saw a star and said,
"This is my Lord!" Then when it set he said, "I do not love
what sets." Then when he saw the Moon come up he said,
"This is my Lord!" Then when it set he said, "If my Lord does
not guide me, I will be one of the misguided people." Then
when he saw the Sun come up he said, "This is my Lord! This
is greater!" Then when it set he said, "My people, I am free of
what you associate with Allah! I have turned my face to Him
Who brought the heavens and Earth into being, a pure natu-
ral believer. I am not one of the idolaters." (Surat al-An'am:
75-79)
As we can see in the above story, Prophet Ibrahim (as) realized the
existence of Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the Earth, and un-
derstood the need to serve Him solely by listening to his conscience.
We understand from this example that looking at their surroundings
through the eyes of the conscience is enough for people to understand
their need to serve Allah. However, in spite of this, Allah in His good-
ness has provided people by various means with detailed information
about the purpose of their existence and how they should serve Him.
Without doubt this is a sign of Allah's boundless mercy and compas-
sion towards humanity, and a manifestation of His name, Al-Hadi, the
Guide showing people the true path. In the world, Allah uses many
methods of pointing this out to people and also gives them time to un-
derstand these signs.
Despite all this, people, who fail to evaluate with open con-
sciences the signs and the manifest truths they see, make up the major-
ity in the world. Such people exhibit behavior which is completely
heedless of these truths even though this behavior will cause them
harm in their eternal lives in the Hereafter.
Look around you once again. Children, teenagers, men, women,
old people; most of them are going about their daily business as if they
will never be faced with death and the Day of Judgment. One is trying
to catch the school bus, another is hurrying towards his car to avoid
being late for work. One is busy shopping for guests who will arrive in
the evening, another making preparations for the arrival of the grand-
child who will be born in a few weeks. Of course, these are things that
everybody experiences in the normal course of daily life. Obviously
they are all extremely commonplace. The problem is that people live
through them in a completely heedless mental state and do not stop to
think that Allah is with them, that death is coming quickly and that in
the presence of Allah they will be called to account for the years during
which they forgot our Lord.
So how can people be so blind to these blatant truths in spite of
the countless signs of Allah's existence and the many signs of their im-
potence in His presence? How can they close their eyes to the truth like
ostriches burying their heads in the sand – especially when they will
be afflicted with the harm this behavior causes?
Without any doubt this happens with most people not because
they cannot understand what they should do, but because they de-
ceive themselves even though their consciences can see what is right.
We are using the word "deception" because, as we have said, on this
matter these people do not have a problem of ignorance or inability to
understand. The problem is the level of commitment of these people to
worldly life and their failure to approach realities honestly because of
secret or open rejection of the Hereafter. Allah tells us in the Qur'an
about the existence of such people as follows:
I will divert from My signs all those who are arrogant in the
Earth without any right. If they see every sign, they will not
believe in it. If they see the way of right guidance, they will
not take it as a way. But if they see the way of error, they will
take that as a way. That is because they denied Our signs and
paid no attention to them. As for those who denied Our signs
and the encounter of the Hereafter, their actions will come to
nothing. Will they be repaid except for what they did? (Surat
al-A'raf: 146-147)
Those who prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter, and
bar access to the way of Allah, seeking in it something
crooked; they are greatly misguided. (Surah Ibrahim: 3)
In another verse, Allah speaks of the heedless spiritual state into
which these people plunge themselves by deceiving themselves and
closing their eyes to the truth:
Mankind's reckoning has drawn very close to them, yet they
heedlessly turn away. (Surat al-Anbiya': 1)
It is blatantly obvious that a person will be faced with the Day of
Judgment and called to account for his actions during his life in the
world. Remaining completely heedless and making no attempt to es-
cape from this heedless attitude is the greatest senselessness and the
most unscrupulous behavior. It is Allah's will that in the Hereafter this
behavior will be justly repaid. Our Prophet (saas) also reminded peo-
ple of the existence and nearness of the Hereafter in these words:
Paradise is nearer to any of you than the strap of his shoe, and so is the
[Hell] Fire. (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Volume 1, Number 387; Imam Ibn
Kathir, The Life of This World Is Fleeting Enjoyment)
If you do not wish to cause yourself eternal remorse for which
there is no comfort, be careful. Do not deceive yourself by devoting
yourself to worldly aims. The real purpose of your presence in the

world is not for you to have a successful career or become rich or es-
tablish a happy home or have children. None of these is the real reason
for your existence. Your greatest purpose is to serve Allah and earn His
approval, His mercy and entry into His Paradise. Naturally, during
their life in the world people may be successful in business, rise to a
superior position, marry and have children and grandchildren, or
make an effort to accomplish these things, but only on condition that
they do not make them the sole aim of their lives in the world, and that
they are seeking Allah's approval at the same time. A person who does
otherwise will find at his death that everything else loses its meaning
and he will realize that serving Allah is the only thing that is really im-
portant. Allah relates in a verse of the Qur'an:
It is not your wealth or your children that will bring you near
to Us – only in the case of people who believe and act rightly;
such people will have a double recompense for what they
did. They will be safe from all harm in the high halls of
Paradise. (Surah Saba': 37)
In other verses, Allah speaks of the situation of people who de-
ceive themselves in the life of this world with property and opportuni-
ties, and forget the purpose of creation and who, as a result, are liable
to great suffering in the Hereafter:
[He will say:] "If only death had really been the end! My
wealth has been of no use to me. My power has vanished."
"Seize him and truss him up. Then roast him in the Blazing
Fire." (Surat al-Haqqa: 27-31)
Being Sincerely Religious
Without Deceiving Yourself
n the previous chapter we began by looking at what is around
I us, at all the living and non-living things on the face of the Earth
and in the universe and as a result of these reflections we arrived
at the truth that the purpose of a person's creation is to serve Allah. Let
us begin this chapter by pointing out a very important matter.
How old are you now? Let's say you are 30 years old and that we
go back in time 30 years and 10 months. You did not yet exist on the
face of the Earth and neither was there any sign that you ever would.
Later, a sperm came together with an ovary and after a 9-month period
of growth you arrived in the world as a baby. That is, you came into ex-
istence from nothing. First you were a single cell. Then the cell divided
and became two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two… Finally, you came to
be a living being made up of millions of cells with hands, limbs, eyes,
ears, a nose, blood circulation, a respiratory system, and others.
Although you were once a single cell, you turned into a thinking, in-
telligent, seeing and feeling being with information, knowledge and
the capacity for pleasure. When you think about it, you can easily un-
Being Sincerely Religious without Deceiving Yourself 21
derstand what an extraordinary process this is.

How, then, did this miracle happen? How was an intelligent crea-
ture produced by the combining of two parts, invisible to the naked
eye, and how did this creature come into the world as a baby complete
in all its parts? The answer to this is given in the following verses:
It is He Who created you from earth, then from a drop of
sperm, then from a clot of blood, then He brings you out as
infants, then so you may achieve full strength, then so you
may become old men – though some of you may die before
that time – so that you may reach a predetermined age and so
that hopefully you will use your intellect. It is He Who gives
life and causes to die. When He decides on something, He
just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Surah Ghafir: 67-68)
In these verses we are reminded that the Creator of all people (in-
cluding ourselves) and all living creatures is Allah, and when faced
with this truth people need to use their intelligence. A person who
uses his intelligence will arrive at the real purpose of creation and give
himself over to the religion of Allah. He will devote his life to gaining
His approval and mercy. In the Qur'an, Allah tells people to stay away
from delusions by reflecting on how they were created:
He Who created you and formed you and proportioned you
and assembled you in whatever way He willed. Yes indeed!
But still you deny the Judgment. Standing over you are
guardians, noble, recording, who know what you do. (Surat
al-Infitar: 6-12)
However, despite all these truths, man is prone to deluding him-
self and straying from the true path by means of self-deception, and of
wasting his efforts on worthless things. Although every detail of the
world is miraculous in the extreme, he is inclined to fail to see and feel

this or, by ignoring the voice of his conscience, feign ignorance about
what he sees and feels. If a person does not think about the existence
and greatness of Allah, and does not use his intelligence, he will be
plunged into eternal regret because of his experiences in the world.
Because of this, people need to stop deceiving themselves and bear in
mind the fact that everything in the world was created for a purpose,
that all the good things they possess are given them as a blessing and
that they will be called to account for everything they have done on
the Day of Judgment.
Sincerity
People with a true and sincere faith neither deceive themselves
nor evade the truth on any subject because they have a powerful fear
and respect of Allah, and so they strenuously avoid jeopardizing the
chances of His approval and neglecting their duties to Him. However,
those defined in the Qur'an as "people who have sickness in their
hearts" are reluctant in their worship of Allah. Allah points these peo-
ple out in Surat an-Nisa': 72 by saying: "Among you there are people
who hang back." These people know the lifestyle and morality that
conform to the Qur'an but they show reluctance in this matter because
they are not sincere. They always find excuses for failing to perform
their worship. Because they are involved in this constant search for ex-
cuses, they come up with false realities which will deceive them or di-
vert them from the truth whatever the situation or circumstances. As
Allah tells us in another verse, they "worship Allah right on the edge"
and do not devote themselves to Allah as they should. The truth is that
they only deceive themselves with their insincere concept of worship.
Allah explains this in the Qur'an:
Among the people there are some who say, "We believe in
Allah and the Last Day," when they are not believers. They
think they deceive Allah and those who believe. They de-
ceive no one but themselves but they are not aware of it.
There is a sickness in their hearts and Allah has increased
their sickness. They will have a painful punishment on ac-
count of their denial. (Surat al-Baqara: 8-10)
Sincerity is fundamental to the religion of Allah. If a person car-
ries out certain forms of worship reluctantly just out of habit or so as
not to attract criticism from others around him, he is deceiving only
himself, as we are told in the above verses. He cannot expect what he
does to have any value in the sight of Allah. In the Qur'an, Allah warns
us that acts of worship which are carried out reluctantly will not be ac-
cepted:
Nothing prevents what they give from being accepted from
them but the fact that they have rejected Allah and His mes-
senger, and that they only come to prayer lethargically, and
that they only give reluctantly. (Surat at-Tawba: 54)
Insincere people have endless, inexhaustible excuses for avoiding
their responsibilities to Allah and wasting their lives on worldly ambi-
tions. In childhood, during their school years, when they enter work-
ing life, while they are enjoying themselves, when they are happy,
when they are sad, the whole year round… Under all circumstances
they can come up with manufactured reasons for not worshipping and
for failing to follow Allah's instructions. In the chapters to come we
will illustrate the excuses people put forward with examples from
everyday life. What is important is that it should be realized that peo-
ple are insincere when they make these excuses because there can be
no reason whatsoever for people not to carry out Allah's instructions
while they are in this life. If a person tries to put forward such an ex-
cuse, this just demonstrates his insincerity or lack of conviction.
A person who knows that Allah is with him at every moment, that
He sees and hears everything and knows and brings to light all that
people try to keep secret, will never attempt any insincerity in serving
Him. Such a person knows very well that if he tries to put forward an
excuse, Allah is aware of it before it even crosses his lips and that He is
aware, too, of the reluctance within a person who is hesitant in his
service to Him. He understands that such insincere behavior will not
go unpunished, so he also knows that self-deception is no escape but
will, on the contrary, cause him great harm. A person like this never
strays from seeking Allah's approval under any circumstances because
he has no weakness thanks to his firm faith in Allah. He is uncondi-
tionally sincere at all times.
People who have sickness in their hearts do have a weakness in
their faith even if they do not deny Allah openly. That is to say, their
faith is dependent on certain conditions. They do not hesitate to devi-
ate from their religion the moment it comes into conflict with their
own comfort or their own advantage. At other times they try to ease
their consciences by carrying out whatever worship comes easily to
them.
These people very obviously deceive themselves but they can in
no way arrive at an awareness of this. If you do not want to fall into the
state of insincerity these people exhibit in the sight of Allah, be careful
not to deceive yourself. If your knowledge is not enough, you can get
to know our Lord best by reading the Qur'an because in this Book,
Allah introduces Himself to His servants. In this way, you will be able
to understand Allah's might and become a believer with a complete
and sincere faith. However, if you evaluate Allah and His religion
from a position of ignorance of the religion, you will fall into errors
from which there is no recovery. Do not forget that you will only find
salvation when you believe in Allah with a firm faith and serve Him
sincerely. This truth is also stated by our Prophet (saas) thus:
Whoever meets Allah, without associating partners with Him, will enter
Paradise. (Sahih Muslim)
Faith in the Hereafter

As we have pointed out in previous chapters, a person who
spends his life pursuing his own desires and passions, doing worth-
less deeds and failing to recognize the instructions and prohibitions of
Allah does not want to consider that in the Hereafter he will be resur-
rected, called to account for everything he has done and treated ac-
cordingly. Because of this, no matter how much his conscience is
aware of the existence of the Hereafter, he prefers to suppress his con-
science and deceives himself. This is, for example, one of the reasons
people adopt the belief in reincarnation which has become wide-
spread in recent times and according to which people return to the
world after death many times, in different places, at different times
and with different identities. This is because people who know that in
the Hereafter the punishment of Hell awaits them for what they have
done, or who at least grant the possibility of this, are made uncomfort-
able by the fact that on dying they will enter the Hereafter. As a result
they joyfully accept such perverted beliefs or ideas, which are com-
pletely outside of the truth, even though they are not supported by the
slightest evidence.
People who seek to deceive themselves in this way by making
themselves believe that there is no Hereafter have existed in every pe-
riod of history. Indeed, in the Qur'an Allah warns us about the way
these people avoid intelligent reasoning and common rationality, sim-

ply so as to evade accepting the existence of the Hereafter and coming
face to face with its reality. These are some of the relevant verses:
They will say, "Are we to be restored to how we were when
we have become perished, worm-eaten bones?" They say,
"That will clearly be a losing restoration!" (Surat an-Nazi'at:
10-12)
As we can see from the verses above, people who reject the
Hereafter and resurrection are actually aware that the fact that they
will be resurrected will not be to their benefit, so as far as possible they
try not to let it cross their minds and using sophisticated speech and
twisted logic they attempt to cover it up and encourage others to do
the same. The Qur'an gives us this example:
He makes likenesses of Us and forgets his own creation, say-
ing, "Who will give life to bones when they are decayed?"
Say, "He Who made them in the first place will bring them
back to life. He has total knowledge of each created thing."
(Surah Ya Sin: 78-79)
People who choose this method of deceiving themselves on the
subject of the Hereafter reflect this rationale in all their thinking and
behavior. There are no bounds to the excesses of a person who makes
himself believe that there will be no Judgment Day after death and no
eternal life in Paradise or Hell, because one of the reasons for people to
fear and avoid excess is the knowledge that what they do will have its
consequences in the Hereafter. By letting go of this belief, they begin to
belittle and neglect their responsibilities towards Allah. Only people
who believe in the Hereafter can be aware that its repayment for ig-
noring the truth through self-deception during the life of this world is
great pain and suffering.
When you think a little, you can also easily see that everything
around you is not the work of chance but exists because of Allah's
boundless power, knowledge and control. In addition, as we are told
in the verses above, creating the Hereafter is an easy matter for our
Lord; and there can be no doubt whatsoever that it conforms to divine
justice. Be careful, and do not under any circumstances ignore these
truths and try to deceive yourself, because those who do so and avoid
facing the truth of the Hereafter will be unable to compensate for their
errors there and will live in eternal pain.
Obedience to Satan
The great majority of people do not know the true characteristics
of Satan and picture him as an imaginary being according to what they
have heard from other people and seen in the movies. So while some
people believe Satan has an independent power of his own (surely
Allah is beyond this) and grossly exaggerate him, others regard the ex-
istence of Satan with scepticism and are unable to accept it. Even if
they grant the possibility that he may exist, they do not believe that
Satan has any effect on them whatsoever. Neither of these positions are
based on any information or evidence but result from ignorant super-
stition. On this subject, as on all others, we can obtain the most correct
and reliable information from the true Book of Allah. As our Prophet
(saas) states, "The best word is the word of Allah and the best guidance is the
guidance of Muhammad." (Sunan Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 7)
As we are told in the Qur'an, first and foremost Satan possesses
no independent power. He is a being created by Allah and wholly
under His control. Everything which happens in the world does so
only because Allah wills it. After being dismissed from Allah's pres-
ence, Satan asked Allah to grant him a period until the end of the
world. We are told of his dismissal from Allah's presence and the pe-
riod he was granted as follows:

We created you and then formed you and then We said to the
angels, "Prostrate before Adam," and they prostrated – except
for Iblis. He was not among those who prostrated. He said,
"What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded
you to?" He replied, "I am better than him. You created me
from fire and You created him from clay." He said, "Descend
from Heaven. It is not for you to be arrogant in it. So get out!
You are one of the abased." He said, "Grant me a reprieve
until the day they are raised up." He said, "You are one of the
reprieved." He said, "By Your misguidance of me, I will lie in
ambush for them on your straight path. Then I will come at
them, from in front of them and behind them, from their
right and from their left. You will not find most of them
thankful." He said, "Get out of it, reviled and driven out. As
for those of them who follow you, I will fill up Hell with
every one of you." (Surat al-A'raf: 11-18)
After being condemned to the eternal torment of dismissal from
Allah's presence, Satan swore an oath to mislead people into his own
perverted ways and began his cunning operations. Allah made Satan's
activities a means of distinguishing between His faithful believers and
those who did not serve Him. Thus Satan's crafty games, traps and
schemes are aimed at every living person, that is, to everybody who is
still undergoing the test of life in this world. Satan will attempt to de-
ceive everybody, without exception. As a result, nobody should regard
himself as being immune to Satan's influence. If a person is aware of
this, he behaves with care and is able to detect even the smallest of
Satan's traps. However, if he regards Satan's influence as something
far away, he may very easily fall under this influence. Because of this,
Satan cannot influence Allah's sincere servants because they never for-
get that he will try to divert them from the true path, and so guard
themselves carefully against him.
Satan's evil cunning can show itself anywhere. As a result of his
wiles, a person may fall into error on any matter he encounters in his
everyday life whether he is aware of this or not, and if he is not a sin-
cere believer this influence can take over his entire life so that the out-
come is that it drives him straight to Hell. That is exactly Satan's pur-
pose. Satan wants people to rebel against Allah and suffer eternal tor-
ment. He never stops chasing them until they enter the Fire. The pur-
pose of all his traps, whether big or small, of his watching and waiting
for an opportunity, is to draw people to Hell with himself. In one
verse, Allah warns people against the enmity of Satan:
Satan is your enemy so treat him as an enemy. He summons
his party so they will be among the people of the searing
blaze. (Surah Fatir: 6)
Obviously in this verse Allah informs us about a great danger.
From the dawn of humanity to the present, Satan has achieved his pur-
pose with countless people who do not believe in Allah. These verses
of the Qur'an tell us so:
Iblis was correct in his assessment of them and they followed
him, except for a group of the believers. He had no authority
over them except to enable Us to know those who believe in
the Hereafter from those who are in doubt about it. Your Lord
is the Preserver of all things. (Surah Saba': 20-21)
However, let us note right away that Allah has also told us that
Satan's power of deception is very weak (Surat an-Nisa': 76). As we can
see from the above verse, it is out of the question for Satan to compel
people. He does not have the power to do so. Satan merely speaks to
people and those who do not have a sincere faith in Allah and reject the
truth of the Hereafter heed his call and harm themselves. We are told in
the following verse of the Qur'an that Satan himself will confess:
When the affair is decided Satan will say, "Allah made you a
promise, a promise of truth, and I made you a promise but
broke my promise. I had no authority over you, except that I
called you and you responded to me. Do not, therefore,
blame me but blame yourselves. I cannot come to your aid
nor you to mine. I reject the way you associated me with
Allah before." The wrongdoers will have a painful punish-
ment. (Surah Ibrahim: 22)
Just as Satan's deception is weak, protection against the influence
of his harmful wiles is very easy. Allah tells us the ways of escaping
this influence:
If an evil impulse from Satan provokes you, seek refuge in
Allah. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. As for those who fear
Allah, when they are bothered by visitors from Satan, they
remember and immediately see clearly. (Surat al-A'raf: 200-
201)
As we can clearly see in these verses, it is impossible for Satan to
have any influence on believers. The way to escape the negative influ-
ence of Satan is to take refuge in Allah, the Possessor of infinite power,
and to reflect on what He has said in His Book. A person who can think
with a clear mind and see the truth without falling into error is ex-
tremely careful in the face of Satan's deception and instead of falling
into his trap he destroys it with his faith, determination and devotion
to Allah.
However, most people do not think that such a danger to them ex-
ists. For this reason, they cannot think of taking refuge in Allah when
faced with Satan's wiles. Satan approaches these misguided people

with guile, and whispers his blandishments in their ears and into their
hearts. One of the reasons why some people deceive themselves about
the truth is that they listen to these deceptions and blandishments and
follow the path to which Satan summons them.
So how can Satan persuade so many people who appear to be in-
telligent to such unintelligent behavior? In what ways can he cause
them to deceive themselves and follow the path that leads to Hell?
In the coming pages, we will explain the situation of those people
who succumb to the wiles of Satan and the reasoning they use to de-
ceive themselves, and we will bring to light the shameful position into
which these people fall. We will draw attention to the ways in which
Satan deceives such people and drives them into Hell, and we will also
make it clear to sincere people that they should be careful in the face of
his cunning stratagems.
Making Excuses
In order to divert people from the path of Allah, Satan uses many
tactics to prevent them from worshipping Allah as He has instructed,
and from living the life of moral excellence taught in the Qur'an. One
of these tactics is to ensure that people put forward various excuses for
not being able to worship. In other words, Satan hands a person ex-
cuses that make what he does seem reasonable. For example, to a
young person who knows that he has to worship Allah, he whispers
that he still has many years ahead of him in which to meet his respon-
sibilities fully but that at the moment, time and circumstances are not
suitable because he is away from home all day at work or at school and
that his friends may view him with contempt.
If the person does not have a sincere and powerful faith, he is de-
ceived by these whisperings, but Satan is not easily satisfied with this
and does not leave the person alone. As we said earlier, he will not
leave him until he is in Hell. He persuades the person that what he is
doing is reasonable and that he is right in acting this way until finally,
the person ends up as one who no longer observes the duties imposed
by Allah and who firmly believes he has good reasons for not doing so.
In fact, as we have pointed out before, everybody knows in his
conscience that it is necessary to serve Allah, Who created him.
However, for reasons presented by Satan as valid, he may at times con-
vince himself that it is not necessary. To put it another way, although
his conscience knows what should be done, he deceives himself for
various reasons and convinces himself of what is not correct.
In the Qur'an, Allah gives a number of examples of such people
who lose their sincerity as a result of Satan's blandishments. Amongst
these, we are given examples of people who lived in the time of our
Prophet (saas) and had weaknesses in their faith. Under the conditions
of the time, a war was in prospect and our Prophet (saas) urged people
to fight for what was right according to the instructions of the Qur'an,
but those classified by Allah as "people who have sickness in their
hearts" put forward all kinds of excuses for not going to war. This is re-
lated in the Qur'an as follows:
… They were told, "Come and fight in the way of Allah or at
least help defend us." They said, "If we knew how to fight,
we would certainly follow you." They were closer to disbelief
that day than to faith, saying with their mouths what was not
in their hearts. And Allah knows best what they are hiding.
(Surah Al 'Imran: 167)
It is blatantly obvious that those people had come under Satan's
influence, because in addition to being aware in their consciences of
what needed to be done, they had heard the teaching of our Prophet
(saas) and knew the religion of Allah well. However, in spite of know-
ing the truth and continuing to carry out every other act of worship
that was incumbent on them, they still fell into Satan's trap. Even
though they knew that Muslims needed to be protected, they tried to
deceive themselves and other believers by claiming that they did not
know.
Another group amongst these people tried to escape by telling
our Prophet (saas): "Our wealth and families kept us occupied, so
ask forgiveness for us" (Surat al-Fath: 11). This was a statement made
under the influence of Satan. This is the only explanation for the com-
plete lack of conscience shown by those who were more preoccupied
with their own private concerns while all so many Muslims were in
danger of losing their lives.
The people in question knew perfectly well what they needed to
do to conform to Allah's instructions and earn His approval. In fact be-
cause they knew that they were insincere, they tried to salve their con-
sciences with words by saying that they wanted our Prophet (saas) to
ask forgiveness for them. Although they were acting contrary to their
consciences, they managed to convince themselves of their own lies to
such an extent that they ended up feeling quite at ease with their be-
havior. In the following verse of the Qur'an, Allah relates the situation
of insincere people who feel justified in their avoidance of their reli-
gious obligations:
Those who were left behind were glad to stay behind the
messenger of Allah. They did not want to strive with their
wealth and themselves in the way of Allah. They said, "Do
not go out to fight in the heat." Say: "The fire of Hell is much
hotter, if they only understood." (Surat at-Tawba: 81)
Satan was able to seduce people with these excuses under the
conditions and in the atmosphere of the time of the Prophet (saas), and
there can be no doubt that he is trying to do the same thing to people
today with different blandishments and different excuses because he
is aware of everybody's weaknesses. He can make different plans ac-
cording to any circumstances and conditions. The people he chal-
lenges may be scientists, professors, men of ideas, leaders, common
people, artists, in short people of every level of culture and material
wealth. Satan knows by which means he should approach all of these
people.
The only people Satan cannot influence despite his trying every
opportunity to do so are the sincere Muslims, as Allah mentions in the
Qur'an. Since they fear Allah and do whatever they can to avoid the
Fire, they take very deliberate precautions against Satan's trickery. In
addition to this they make the best use of their intelligence, listen to
their consciences and rely upon their faith in Allah.
The stratagems and tactics of Satan that we have described above
are aimed at everybody. In other words, you, too, are a person in dan-
ger of coming under Satan's stealthy influence. This being the case, be
sincere in your faith, and do not fall into Satan's trap. Do not forget
that Satan is waiting for the opportunity to drag you into the Fire
along with himself and is making plans for you. At the first opportu-
nity he will cunningly go into action. Do not give Satan that opportu-
nity. He will whisper every possible excuse in your ear to prevent you
from following Allah's path and serving and worshipping Him.
Moreover he will try to present his case as very sensible and reason-
able. In this way he will try to persuade you by making you deceive
yourself.
By listening to your conscience you can easily detect what is hap-
pening and protect yourself from the influence of Satan by responding
instead to the impulse which directs you to gain Allah's approval. In

this world, nothing is more important or urgent than protecting your-
self against the fire of Hell, so do not listen to the suggestive persua-
sions with which Satan encourages you to deceive yourself, because
on the Day of Judgment no excuse will be acceptable. As Allah tells us
in His Book, He will not accept the presentation of excuses.
This is the truth, so beware! Do not under any circumstances fool
yourself by imagining you can offer excuses for not living according to
the religion of Allah.
Diversions and Distractions

Another of Satan's tactics is to divert people into empty and pur-
poseless tasks. He paints activities and tasks that have nothing to do
with the approval of Allah in pretty colors and makes them appear in
an attractive and positive light. A person who falls for this ends up de-
voting himself entirely to worldly plans, rewards and targets.
While he is diverted by these projects, it does not cross his mind
that one day his life in the world will end and that he will be called to
account in the presence of Allah. As we stated at the beginning of this
book, he wastes his entire life on fleeting ideals such as a higher posi-
tion, more money and investments and a brighter future. It is obvious
what a great mistake it is for a person who does not know where and
how he will die and has no guarantee that he will still be alive from
one second to the next, to pursue such fruitless ambitions and calcula-
tions.
However, the great majority of people persuade themselves that
it is necessary for them to live like this. To console themselves, they opt
not to think about any of the things we have said in this book and
would rather continue their lives of self-deception. In line with this,
they regard every target they set for themselves as the most important
thing in the world. For instance, the most important aim of a secretary
is not to forget the boss's meetings; of a student, to earn the highest
possible marks; of a shop assistant, to sell the most shoes on a given
day; of a businessman, to win a major tender; of an athlete, to take the
biggest prize in his event; of a singer, to have more people listen to his
CDs; of a young girl, to wear the most beautiful dress at a party she is
going to; of a high school student, to become the boyfriend of the
school's most beautiful girl; of a translator, to find the perfect words;
and of a writer, to write the most successful books and articles. Of
course, in all these things it is natural for a person to want to do and be
the best but as we said at the outset, they are not the most important
tasks in a person's life. There is no more important task for a person
than earning Allah's good pleasure and becoming a servant of Allah
who deserves Paradise.
If a person deceives himself, ignores the truth and believes that
his worldly desires are the sole purpose of life, he will suffer great re-
gret when suddenly, he finds himself face to face with death. Up to
that moment he has believed that the most important things were his
house, business, wife, car, diplomas, friends, family and circle of busi-
ness acquaintances; but at his first sight of the angel of death he real-
izes how fleeting they were and that they were just parts of his test in
life. Immediately afterwards, with the boundless blessings of the
Garden on one side and violent physical and mental torment of the
Fire on the other, he suffers an insupportable helplessness and regret
when he gives the account of his deeds to Allah.
At that moment all that is important is what he has done to earn
Allah's approval; but this person has done nothing of the kind during
his life. He has not attempted to gain the approval of Allah. Then he
comes to understand with the greatest possible bitterness that all the
effort he devoted to the goals for which he grew old and wasted his
life, had neither meaning nor importance. The truth is that this is not
something he did not know. He knew in his conscience exactly what
would become of him but he chose to evade this by deceiving himself.
Allah tells us about the position of people like this in the verse:
... Satan made their actions seem good to them and so de-
barred them from the way, even though they were intelligent
people. (Surat al-'Ankabut: 38)
In other words, although they are capable of seeing the truth,
these people fall prey to Satan's deceptions and waste their lives on
empty tasks.
Allah tells us in these verses that accepting that they have done
wrong will do these people no good in the Hereafter:
And your Lord arrives with the angels rank upon rank and
that Day Hell is produced, that Day man will remember; but
how will the remembrance help him? He will say, "Oh! If
only I had prepared in advance for this life of mine!" That
Day no one will punish as He punishes and no one will
shackle as He shackles. (Surat al-Fajr: 22-26)
In order not to be one of those who says, "if only… " in the
Hereafter, think right now about the real purpose of your life and con-
sider to what extent what you are doing serves this purpose. Be care-
ful! Do not deceive yourself into thinking that the empty and purpose-
less tasks you do are worthwhile. This applies to everything you do,
every task you undertake throughout the day. Naturally, you are going
to work hard for many different things but your basic purpose in
doing all of them should be to earn Allah's approval and His Paradise.
If, in any task, you see no likelihood of Allah's approving, and do not
believe it will be to your advantage in the Hereafter, give it up. Devote

yourself only to tasks that you can see are good and beneficial. Your
conscience makes the distinction for you in the best way possible.
Listen to your conscience and take heed. Do not let Satan divert you by
making valueless and fleeting things seem attractive.
False Promises
In his task of diverting people from the path of Allah, Satan does
not stop at making useless tasks seem attractive. He also makes a vari-
ety of promises. Allah tells us about Satan's falsehood in this verse:
He [Satan] makes promises to them and fills them with false
hopes. But what Satan promises them is nothing but delu-
sion. (Surat an-Nisa': 120)
People who come under the influence of Satan make themselves
believe they have long years ahead of them and pursue long-term
plans. Behaving as if they will live in this world forever, they lose
Allah's approval by devoting themselves to worldly ambitions such as
money, property, rank and position. In another verse, Allah relates that
this is another deception of Satan's:
Those who have turned back in their tracks after the guid-
ance became clear to them, it was Satan who talked them into
it and filled them with false hopes. (Surah Muhammad: 25)
Every person has wide ranging plans and schemes for thousands
of matters according to the situation and circumstances in which he
finds himself. Even if the plans of people from different professions,
age groups and social strata vary, they are all fundamentally worldly.
For example, a businessman's greatest ambition for the future is to
own a large factory. After he has achieved factory ownership, his
greatest ambition is to be able to market his goods worldwide. Or an
artist aims to be well known by everybody in his own country, loved

and respected and recognized as a great talent. When he succeeds in
this, his next target is to achieve the same thing on a world scale. We
can give examples of this type that concern many different people. In
the life of the world, these people work day and night to realize their
ambitions. They make many sacrifices, suffer many difficulties and
struggle to overcome problems and obstacles of all kinds.
But are their lives long enough to achieve what they want?
Everybody needs to think about this as a priority because success in
none of the plans outlined above is guaranteed. By contrast, it is cer-
tain that death comes to everybody. In spite of this, these people make
no plans and preparations for the Hereafter. They devote the whole of
their lives to the realization of their worldly ambitions. They never
even consider that one day death will come and with it all their plans
will be abandoned incomplete, because Satan has made them prom-
ises as described in the Qur'an, and they waste their lives by allowing
themselves to be deceived by these promises.
Instead of chasing long-term targets, a person should live in the
way Allah has shown us in the Qur'an, knowing that he is responsible
to Allah and will be called to account in His presence on the Day of
Judgment. If not, he may find himself excluded from the Garden be-
cause of failure to prepare for eternal life and missing the opportuni-
ties given to him. A person who wastes himself on worthless tasks
during the period that Allah has granted him will suffer great regret in
the Hereafter. We are warned of this:
… Did We not let you live long enough for anyone who was
going to pay heed to pay heed? (Surah Fatir: 37)
As we are told in the verse above, everybody is granted a period
in which to take advice and listen to the voice of his conscience. No
matter how much Satan tries to drive him onto the wrong path, a per-
son has the opportunity to ignore his call and follow the path of Allah.
The only means of doing this is sincere faith and trust in Allah. In the
Qur'an we are told that every effort Satan directs towards people with
these characteristics and every promise he makes will prove futile:
[Allah said:] "Stir up any of them you can with your voice and
rally against them your cavalry and your infantry and share
with them in their children and their wealth and make them
promises! The promise of Satan is nothing but delusion. But
as for My servants, you will not have any authority over
them." Your Lord suffices as a guardian. (Surat al-Isra': 64-65)
Be careful and do not let Satan make you forget the place for
which you really need to prepare by having you pursue worldly ambi-
tions and long term plans. Do not deceive yourself by adopting
worldly ideals and fleeting ambitions and believing that you are doing
something worthwhile. Apply the following instruction of Allah with-
out ever letting it slip your mind at any moment of your life:
You who believe! Fear Allah and let each self look to what it
has sent forward for tomorrow. Fear Allah. Allah is aware of
what you do. Do not be like those who forgot Allah so He
made them forget themselves. Such people are the deviators.
(Surat al-Hashr: 18-19)
What Lies Do People Deceive
Themselves with?
atan tries to attract people to his path with a variety of decep-
S tive stratagems, blandishments and promises. By making

them forget the purpose of creation, he directs people towards
worldly advantages and fleeting ambitions. If a person heeds Satan's
call and sets his face against the call of our Lord, it becomes impossible
for him to see the truth. Allah has told us about the condition of such
people in Surat az-Zukhruf:
If someone shuts his eyes to the remembrance of the All-
Merciful, We assign him a satan who becomes his bosom
friend – they debar them from the path, yet they still think
they are guided – so that, when he reaches Us, he says, "If
only there was the distance of the two Easts between you and
me!" What an evil companion! It will not benefit you today,
since you did wrong, that you share equally in the punish-
ment. Can you make the dead hear or guide the blind and
those who are patently misguided? (Surat az-Zukhruf: 36-40)
As can be seen from the above verses, Allah describes these peo-
ple as blind and deaf. Of course, this is not physical blindness and
deafness. Allah is pointing out that such people are blind and deaf in
the spiritual sense and that they ignore the truth because they do not
hear His call to the true path. In short, by failing to follow their intelli-
gence and their consciences, these people ignore Allah's instructions
and the Day of Judgment, and they believe they are protecting them-
selves by doing so. The truth is that they are only fooling themselves.
Let us state from the outset that people who deceive themselves
are not some small, exceptional minority amongst those on the face of
the Earth. As we are told in the Qur'an, "...But most of them do not
know the truth, so they turn away" (Surat al-Anbiya': 24). And again,
"many people reject the meeting with their Lord" (Surat ar-Rum: 8).
In order to avoid becoming one of the people in question, you
should think for yourself one more time and make an effort to avoid
being a self deceiver because deceiving yourself by closing your eyes
to the truth while you are in the world brings you not benefit, but great
harm in the Hereafter.
Those who say: "It didn't occur to me,

I didn't know"
If we compare every moment a person experiences in his life to a
frame from a film, we can see that there are trillions of frames. Every
one of these trillions represents an opportunity which the person is
given. Every moment in life is an opportunity to think about the facts
and see the truth before the Day of Judgment arrives. Those who use
this blessing to their advantage are the people who can understand the
real direction of worldly life by thinking about it. People who do not
think and live their lives in error cannot take advantage of this oppor-
tunity.
What Lies Do People Deceive Themselves with? 43
Of course, the concept of thinking means different things to dif-

ferent people. What some people regard as thinking is thinking about
the future. For them, making plans for the future and investing in it is
what thinking is all about. Others see thinking as an accounting for the
past. They spend all their time considering what they have gained and
lost in the past. Others believe that it is useful to think only about
today and not at all about tomorrow. This is their view of life. They live
from day to day and have no definite purpose or path to follow. When
they get up in the morning they think about what to have for breakfast
and when they are going to work they think about how to get there.
They think about who to go out for lunch with, what to cook for their
guests in the evening and which shares it will be profitable to buy. The
next day they wonder whether they will be able to find tickets for the
football match or not, or who they should take to the office party. In
short, the minds of most people are continually filled with ordinary,
superficial, everyday thoughts.
Millions of people on the face of the Earth live out their lives with
these and similar thoughts. For them, what they see is what is real and
they are not really interested in thinking about deeper matters and
going beyond the mundane. However, what we mean by "thinking"
here is deep reflection about the purpose of human life, the proofs of
the creation around us, the creative perfection of Allah that is apparent
in the universe, about death, the Hereafter and the Day of Judgment.
This is where most people are lacking.
Consider this: People are educated for years and become biolo-
gists, engineers or doctors, even professors, but they never once think
about how they came to be created out of nothing or that they might
exist for a definite purpose. They write theses, achieve doctorates, be-
come faculty members or doctors who bring people back to health or
lawyers, but they never think at all about why or how they were cre-
ated or that they are indebted to Allah for their creation. They write
books, they take part in TV discussions, they rationalize their opinions
and express their views but never once do they allow death and the ac-
counting they will give to Allah to cross their minds. These people are
making a grave mistake because death comes to everybody sooner or
later and Allah will call everybody to account for their service to Him.
Being thoughtless will not do them any good.
Every sane individual has a mind and a conscience capable of
thinking about and comprehending the existence of Allah, the purpose
of creation and how Allah should be served. The truth is that people
who do not think about these matters that are most vital to them are
capable of thinking very clearly about other things that affect their
worldly lives. For example, on commercial matters they know very
well how they should use their money and they think about this at
every turn. They can overcome major difficulties in their working lives
and manage to come up with detailed responses to every aspect of a
problem. When they want something they can make very long-term
plans to achieve it and put them into effect step by step. In short, peo-
ple are capable of thinking very clearly about matters that concern
their worldly gains.
For this reason, unless Allah wills it, excuses such as "I didn't
think" or "It didn't cross my mind," will not be accepted in the
Hereafter.
Every newborn baby enters the world that Allah has created.
Wherever a person looks, he encounters a glorious creation, flawless
design and systems planned down to the last detail. A person who
thinks about what he encounters can easily understand that all these
things were created, but a person who is trapped in everyday life and
worldly ambitions puts what he sees down to chance and overlooks

the truth. If you show such a person a simple picture and ask, "Did this
draw itself by chance?" he will reply, "Of course not, there must be an
artist who drew it." But this same person avoids thinking about the ex-
traordinary art that surrounds him in nature and why it was created.
In the same way, people avoid considering that the life of the
world is temporary and that their real life is the eternal life which be-
gins with their deaths. They see many people die every day but their
own deaths do not cross their minds. They make worldly plans as
though they will never die and they make no preparations for the
Hereafter.
These people are harming themselves, because it is very easy to
think about the purpose of human creation, about the art of Allah that
is apparent throughout the universe, about death, the Hereafter and
the Day of Judgment. Contrary to what people believe, it is neither
confusing nor difficult to think about any of these things. Nor is there
any need to carry out lengthy research, receive a comprehensive edu-
cation or acquire a wide variety of knowledge.
For example, every person with a conscience is drawn towards
thinking about Allah's wonderful creation just by virtue of the life sus-
taining air we breathe every day, the perfect wing structure which en-
ables the birds to fly and the colorful world we see around us. In the
same way, it is impossible for a person not to think that one day he will
die when he lives in a world where news of death is an everyday oc-
currence. If a person does not close his ears to the voice of his con-
science, does not devote himself to worthless tasks and does not de-
ceive himself with materialistic logic, these deeper reflections will in-
evitably take root in his mind.
It is necessary, however, for a person to demonstrate willpower in
order to think deeply about realities and not fall into error. What
should not be forgotten is that everybody has an enemy: Satan. Since
Satan does not want people to turn to Allah by reflecting and thereby
discerning the truth, he will definitely try to prevent them from doing
so. He will start by presenting people with cunning blandishments.
Amongst the most effective of these is the lie that they can be ex-
empted from responsibility by not thinking. People who fall for this
imagine they can protect themselves by saying, "I didn't know" or
"Nobody told me," but they are deceiving themselves.
While people are playing this trick on themselves, Allah, Who is
closer to them than their own skin, is aware of everything they do and
of their every heedless thought. As a result, a person who avoids see-
ing his responsibility to Allah is really falling into a trap of his own
making. By failing to think, he is only fooling himself. When he goes to
the Hereafter, he will see the truths he has been evading and will
clearly understand that insincere excuses such as, "I didn't know, it
didn't cross my mind, I didn't think about it," are worthless when he is
called to account in the presence of Allah.
In a verse of the Qur'an, Allah warns people that the Day of
Judgment is, "The Day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will not
help them" (Surah Ghafir: 52). We are also informed of this truth in
other verses:
On that Day the excuses of those who did wrong will not
help them nor will they be able to appease Allah. (Surat ar-
Rum: 57)
People who say: "I knew but the time and

the conditions were not right"
Allah has sent the Qur'an as a book to guide people. Until the Day
of Judgment, all people are held responsible for carrying out the in-
structions in the Qur'an and fulfilling their duty of worship. Except in
the circumstances affirmed by Allah in the Qur'an as exceptional,
every human being will give an accounting on the Day of Judgment as
to whether or not he performed the religious obligations.
From this point of view, a person who uses a variety of excuses
(other than those valid reasons which Allah accepts) for not perform-
ing his duty of obedience is deceiving himself. Despite this obvious
truth, some people use the circumstances in which they find them-
selves as an excuse and ignore their responsibility to Allah. They put
forward one excuse during their school years, another when they enter
working life and yet another when they have children. Since they have
no sincere intention of living a religious life, they present various dif-
ferent matters as obstacles to carrying out their duty of worship. Chief
amongst these obstacles they present is that the time is not right and
conditions not suitable.
In everyday life, people make time for any number of things.
Even if they have to make other sacrifices, they will always manage to
set aside time, especially when their own benefit is at stake. Moreover,
if their circumstances prevent them from carrying out an advanta-
geous task, they are quick to think about the situation and find ways of
removing the obstacle. However, people usually do not show the same
determination when it comes to observing their acts of worship.
You often meet people around you who present such excuses as,
"I want to pray but I can't find the time," "I'm at school and I can't make
time for prayers because I have to study," or "This is my summer
house, I can't fast here." In the same way, you can also see lots of peo-
ple who excuse their bad behavior by saying, "I want to be a patient
person, but everything happens at once," or "I don't want to get angry
but I'm in a very stressful environment."

In reality these people are not approaching the religion of Allah
with sincerity because, as we have said before, they are capable of ig-
noring the time and their circumstances and coming up with all kinds
of solutions when they stand to make a material gain, but when the
matter in question is the need for them to fulfil their responsibility to
Allah, Who created them, they start complaining about difficulties
right away.
Let us give a more concrete example to make this easier to under-
stand. If someone receives an offer to set aside one hour a day for a job
that pays a lot of money (let us say ten times his monthly salary), then
whatever circumstances he is in, he accepts immediately. This person
may be preparing for his university examinations or he may have an-
other very important job to do at the same time. Whatever he may be
doing, if necessary he sacrifices his sleep or cuts down on his leisure
time but he does not put forward lack of time as a problem. Right away
he rearranges his entire schedule to fit in with the well-paid work
which has to be done. This is an undeniable truth that applies to most
people.
If the person does not show the same determination in earning
Allah's approval, this is insincerity and lack of conscience. Above all,
the return a person will receive for his prayers is Paradise and the eter-
nal mercy of Allah, a reward that cannot be compared with a few extra
dollars received for a job of work.
However, most people are bewitched by the property and money
they are striving to acquire, the credit cards they carry, the dollars they
save and the houses, cars and fine clothes they enjoy, and they direct
themselves to worldly pursuits, setting their religion aside and forget-
ting about the Hereafter. They deceive themselves by saying, "I don't
have time," "I'm very busy," "I have work I need to finish," "I have
plans for the future," or "I'll do it later," instead of devoting themselves
to the worship which will gain a reward for them in the Hereafter.
They do not live according to the superior morality Allah teaches, they
do not pray, nor do they fast. They do not give to the needy from the
things Allah has given them and they waste their lives in the pursuit of
worldly gain.
People who deceive themselves in the belief that the excuses they
make will be accepted, and so either do not pursue their worship or
put it off, are told what they will meet with in the Hereafter in the fol-
lowing terms:
That Day man will be told what he did and failed to do. In
fact, man will be clear proof against himself in spite of any
excuses he might offer. (Surat al-Qiyama: 13-15)
So be careful. Do not deceive yourself like these people by mak-
ing excuses in this world that will be meaningless in the Hereafter. As
we are told in the above verses, whatever excuses you make, you re-
ally have an intelligence that is capable of understanding that they are
not acceptable. If you pursue the desires of the self, you will account
for this to Allah, our Lord. No work which you have to do is more ur-
gent or more important than this because your eternal salvation is pos-
sible only through Allah's mercy.
Those who claim illness and fatigue

Physical discomfort is one of the excuses people put forward for
not following the religion. For example, a person who is unwilling to
worship Allah claims to be ill when he is really perfectly healthy. He
tries to use this to deceive himself and those around him, and fails to
fulfil his responsibilities. Such a person should never forget that Allah
knows everything. No human act or thought is a secret from Allah.

Allah knows every thought that crosses a person's mind, everything
he feels in his heart and everything which is hidden in his subcon-
scious. As the Qur'an tells us: "… Allah knows what your hearts con-
tain" (Surah Al 'Imran: 119).
However, although they are given the opportunity to earn Allah's
approval and attain Paradise, people who are far removed from the
morality of the Qur'an prefer to set aside their worship using illness as
their excuse and follow their own selfish desires. In return for this in-
sincerity, they will receive bitter torment in the Hereafter because the
excuses they offer for not carrying out Allah's instructions are dishon-
est. For people who really do have physical ailments, a number of con-
cessions are provided in the Qur'an. For example, fasting is one of the
religious duties which Allah has made compulsory. Consequently,
people are obliged to carry out this instruction. In the Qur'an, Allah
tells us clearly about situations in which people may be exempt from
this form of worship:
[Fasting is prescribed] for a specified number of days. But
any of you who are ill or on a journey should fast a number of
other days. For those who can [scarcely] afford it, making up
for it means feeding a poor man. And if someone does good
of his own accord, it is better for him. But that you should fast
is better for you, if you only knew. (Surat al-Baqara: 184)
As we can see in this verse, Allah recognizes the situation of trav-
ellers and sick people, and eases the task of carrying out the duty of
fasting. In the verse's continuation, Allah points out where the greatest
blessings lie for the believers. In a later verse, Allah tells us of another
relaxation of the fasting rule and reminds us that He always wants
ease for His servants:
The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur'an was

sent down as guidance for humanity, with clear signs con-
taining guidance and discrimination. Any of you who are res-
ident for the month should fast it. But any of you who are ill
or on a journey should fast a number of other days. Allah de-
sires ease for you; He does not desire difficulty for you. You
should complete the number of days and proclaim Allah's
greatness for the guidance He has given you so that hope-
fully you will be thankful. (Surat al-Baqara: 185)
As can be seen from this example, there is always an easy way for
those who believe sincerely in Allah because the religion of Allah is ex-
tremely simple. Allah does not want any difficulties for people who
wish to live by His religion. It is Allah Who knows best what will be
difficult for people and how to lighten their load, and in the Qur'an He
tells us that He will not impose on anybody beyond the limit of his
strength:
Allah desires to make things lighter for you. Man was created
weak. (Surat an-Nisa': 28)
We do not impose on any self any more than it can stand.
With Us there is a Book which speaks the truth. They will not
be wronged. (Surat al-Muminun: 62)
Most people behave very ungratefully in the face of Allah's com-
passion and blessings. Because of their attachment to worldly ambi-
tions, they continually put forward one circumstance after another as
excuses for not worshipping as they should. Of course, in doing so
they are only deceiving and harming themselves because as we are
told in the Qur'an, Allah is in need of nothing:
If you are ungrateful, Allah is rich beyond need of any of you
and He is not pleased with ingratitude in His servants. But if
you are grateful, He is pleased with you for that. No burden-

bearer can bear another's burden. Then you will return to
your Lord and He will inform you of what you did. He knows
what the heart contains. (Surat az-Zumar: 7)
Be careful; do not deny your position of servitude to Allah and
make excuses. Do not even think about such insincerity. Do not forget
that Allah knows an insincere excuse before it even crosses a person's
mind, and while you are deceiving yourself, if you suddenly meet
with the angel of death, you will never be able to return to the world to
worship Allah no matter how much you may want to. In the Qur'an,
Allah tells us of the regret that will be felt on the Day of Judgment by
healthy and able people who avoided worship:
On the Day when legs are bared and they are called on to
prostrate, they will not be able to do so. Their eyes will be
downcast, darkened by debasement; for they were called on
to prostrate when they were in full possession of their facul-
ties. (Surat al-Qalam: 42-43)
Those who say: "Allah will forgive me anyway"

Most people know of Allah's existence and accept it but they do
not praise His might as they should. The matter on which they fall into
deception is not Allah's existence but His attributes. For example, they
believe quite rightly that Allah is very generous, affectionate and com-
passionate towards His servants but they do not really take on board
his attribute of being the Punisher of resistance to the faith and the One
Who torments and curses the deniers.
These people who do not praise Allah as they should either have
no fear of Allah at all or very little. In terms of the Hereafter, this is very
dangerous for them because a person with no fear of Allah who does
not believe that he will be punished for what he does can easily com-
mit all kinds of evil acts. Such people may succumb to the perverse
idea, which is in no way related to the truth, that although they com-
mit every sin which Allah condemns, He will forgive them anyway.
Satan approaches people from this direction and causes them to imag-
ine that they will be forgiven whatever they do.
If we examine them, people in communities which have aban-
doned religion act on the basis of a distorted point of view and contin-
ually go against Allah's instructions and prohibitions. Those people
who do not pray or fast, who do not help and protect the needy, who
do not share their property because of meanness, who take unfair ad-
vantage of other people, who murder, steal and use the property of
others fraudulently and who drive those around them into immoral-
ity, are the ones who commit these sins with the idea that Allah will
forgive them anyway.
The truth is that people who think in such a way have fallen into
a great error because although Allah is the One Who accepts repen-
tance and forgives those who repent, at the same time, He is the One
Who, with eternal justice, repays everything which is done in the man-
ner it deserves. Of course, those who do evil as well as those who do
good will receive the repayment they deserve on the Day of Judgment.
The Qur'an tells us this truth:
Or do those who perpetrate evil deeds suppose that We will
make them like those who believe and do right actions, so
that their lives and deaths will be the same? How bad their
judgment is! Allah created the heavens and Earth with truth
so that every self might be repaid for what it earned and they
will not be wronged. (Surat al-Jathiyya: 21-22)
Fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah. Then every
self will be paid in full for what it earned. They will not be
wronged. (Surat al-Baqara: 281)
However, we should point out that naturally, any person can
make mistakes during his life and may feel remorse for the wrong
things he has done and the mistakes he has made because man is
prone to error. Nobody can claim to be perfect. Because of this, while
he is in the world a person can repent to Allah in order to be forgiven.
Until death, Allah allows everybody the opportunity for repentance;
but the Qur'an tells us what kind of repentance is sincere and will be
accepted. In the following verses, Allah tells us that sincerity is a con-
dition of repentance:
Allah only accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ig-
norance and then quickly repent after doing it. Allah turns
towards such people. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. There
is no repentance for people who persist in doing evil until
death comes to them and who then say, "Now I repent," nor
for people who die unbelievers. We have prepared for them a
painful punishment. (Surat an-Nisa': 17-18)
Since this is the case, when a person falls into error he should not
regard it as unimportant and think, "Never mind, I'll be forgiven any-
way," he should sincerely turn towards our Lord and repent his mis-
take with the determination to put it right. What is important is for a
person to be a sincere and honest servant of Allah. Only in this way
can he hope for Allah's forgiveness. Those who do not take refuge in
Allah and do not ask for forgiveness, who think that Allah will for-
give them anyway, will meet with results which they do not at all ex-
pect.
Be careful and do not risk making the mistake, with which Allah
will not be pleased, of thinking that He will forgive you whatever hap-
pens. Otherwise you will be placing your eternal life in a grave danger
of your own making.
Those who think they are going to Paradise

whatever happens
In communities that have abandoned a religious way of life, an-
other of the matters on which people deceive themselves is the idea
that they have the right to enter the Garden. Although the great major-
ity of these people accept that there is life after death, since they do not
lead religious lives, they have the false belief that they will definitely
go to Paradise. How people arrive at such an opinion we do not know,
but when comparing themselves with others, most of them see only
their good points and so they think that they are good people in gen-
eral and that as a result they have a right to enter Paradise. What is
most surprising is that these people form the concept of "goodness"
not according to the Qur'an but according to their own ignorant crite-
ria. They choose not the way of life and the morality which Allah will
approve but the lifestyle and morality approved by the society in
which they live, and as a result of their misguided standards they fool
themselves into imagining that they are bound for Paradise.
There is no doubt, of course, that hoping that Allah will grant one
admission to Paradise is a good thing, and wanting this is something
to be encouraged. However, the most important indication that such a
desire is sincere is when a person behaves consistently with entry into
Paradise, displaying fear of Allah and seeking refuge in Him through-
out his life. Living a life which Allah will not approve and not fulfilling
your obligations to Him while still claiming that you will go to
Paradise, is not only extremely insincere but also pure self-deception.
According to this thinking, a person can neglect his obligations to
Allah and waste countless opportunities on his own selfish desires

and passions, and then automatically take his place amongst the sin-
cere and right acting believers, sharing with them all the bounties
which Allah has prepared for them in Paradise. This kind of reasoning
shows that the person knows nothing about the Qur'an at all. Someone
who understands the truths contained in the verses of the Qur'an
knows very well that it is impossible to be saved on the basis of such
misconceptions which arise out of people's susceptibility to self-de-
ception.
When someone becomes aware of and reflects on the Fire as it is
described in the Qur'an, he cannot bring himself to contemplate
spending even a single moment there. He fights strenuously not only
against going to the Fire but against going anywhere near it because
Hell is a place filled with unimaginable suffering, pain and torment.
As described in the Qur'an, the torment of Hell is so violent as to make
people wish they no longer existed:
When they are flung into a narrow place in it, shackled to-
gether in chains, they will cry out there for destruction. (Surat
al-Furqan: 13)
They will call out, "Malik, let your Lord put an end to us!" He
will say, "You will stay the way you are." (Surat az-Zukhruf:
77)
People who do not praise Allah and recognize His attributes as
they should cannot appreciate the horror of the Fire which He has pre-
pared for unbelievers. This brings about in them a heedlessness. So
much so that instead of acting on the basis of fear of Hell and the desire
to escape it they are prepared to contemplate going to Hell for a time
for certain acts they have committed. This point of view is very wide-
spread in society. People who transgress Allah's commands and prohi-
bitions in favor of their own selfish desires and passions hold the belief
that they will serve out their punishment in Hell and then go on to
Paradise. They think that they can do whatever they want in the life of
the world and that they will then be punished in Hell for a while be-
fore being forgiven. In fact, there is no guarantee of such a thing for
anybody, unless Allah wills it.
The Fire is a place of eternal torment and any person who does
not live according to Allah's commands may be condemned to this tor-
ment for eternity. People who imagine that after a time they will be re-
leased from the Fire and do not fear Allah as they should are people
who do not consider or understand His justice. In fact, Allah speaks of
people who act on this superstitious belief and what they will suffer in
the Qur'an:
They say, "The Fire will only touch us for a number of days."
Say, "Have you made a contract with Allah – then Allah will
not break His contract – or are you rather saying about Allah
what you do not know?" No indeed! Those who accumulate
bad actions and are surrounded by their mistakes, such peo-
ple are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it time-
lessly, for ever; whereas those who believe and do right ac-
tions, such people are the Companions of the Garden, re-
maining in it timelessly, for ever. (Surat al-Baqara: 80-82)
Also the following:
That is because they say, "The Fire will only touch us for a
number of days." Their inventions have deluded them in
their religion. (Surah Al 'Imran: 24)
As the above verses relate, only Allah knows who will suffer what
torment and how long a person will remain in the Fire. The hopeless-
ness and helplessness which will be experienced by people who say
during their lives, "I'll serve my time and come out," and deceive
themselves with their own arrogant and erroneous mentality, is de-
scribed by Allah in the following verses:
… He will say, "The Fire is your home. You will be in it time-
lessly, for ever, except as Allah wills. Your Lord is All-Wise,
All-Knowing." (Surat al-An'am: 128)
But as for those who are deviators, their refuge is the Fire.
Every time that they want to get out, they are put straight
back into it again and they are told, "Taste the punishment of
the Fire, which you denied." (Surat as-Sajda: 20)
They will want to get out of the Fire but they will not be able
to. They will have an everlasting punishment. (Surat al-
Ma'ida: 37)
If you do not want to be one of the people referred to in the above
verses, think again about this subject and whatever you do, do not
give way to the unfounded belief that you will go to Paradise what-
ever happens or that you will serve out your punishment and be re-
leased from Hell. Judge yourself not according to groundless criteria
but according to the verses of the Qur'an. In the Qur'an, Allah tells us
in detail what kind of person you should be in order to deserve
Paradise. Do not forget that nobody's entry into Paradise is guaran-
teed. On the contrary, everybody is being tested in the life of the world
and everyone is in danger of going to Hell. The Qur'an points out to us
that even Allah's most sincere and conscientious prophets prayed to
Him on this matter:
[Yusuf said,] "My Lord, You have granted power to me on
Earth and taught me the true meaning of events. Originator
of the heavens and Earth, You are my friend in this world and
the next. So take me as a Muslim at my death and join me to
the people who are righteous." (Surah Yusuf: 101)

In this situation, nobody should deceive himself – nobody will be
able to enter the gates of Paradise so long as he does not bow down
and deliver himself to Allah and does not earn the approval of our
Lord. In a verse of the Qur'an, Allah shows us that this is impossible
with the following very clear example:
As for those who deny Our signs and are arrogant regarding
them, the Gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, and
they will not enter the Garden until a camel goes through a
needle's eye. That is how We repay the evildoers. (Surat al-
A'raf: 40)
People who say: "I was just doing

the same as everybody else"
In a number of matters in which people fall into error, collective
psychology has a great influence. Especially in communities which
lack religion, "following the herd" comes to be the norm even when it
is mistaken or bad. Even though he knows in his conscience what is
right, under the influence of crowd psychology a person silences his
conscience with the incorrect idea that so many people can't be wrong
and so goes along with the majority. In fact, the majority view is no
yardstick on any matter. The only guide by which people can separate
right from wrong is the Qur'an, which was sent down for this purpose.
Those who accept and conform to criteria other than those of the
Qur'an fall into very grave errors. In the Qur'an, Allah warns us very
clearly on the matter of going along with the majority:
If you obeyed most of those on Earth, they would misguide
you from Allah's way. They follow nothing but conjecture.
They are only guessing. (Surat al-An'am: 116)
Underlying the principle of conforming to the majority is the

bankrupt idea that if everybody is agreed on something it is essential
to go along with it. That is, a person is afraid of being criticized or con-
demned or isolated by others if he does not abandon what he knows to
be right to go along with the majority. This is a mentality which is very
widespread amongst all people, whether they are young or old. There
are people who, solely for this reason, fail to observe their obligations
of worship and ignore the approval of Allah throughout their lives for
the sake of the approval of the majority. A person does not have to cal-
culate what others think and then act accordingly. With the Qur'an
Allah frees people from dependence of all types. A person is account-
able only to Allah and will be called to account only as to whether or
not he believed in and conformed to the Qur'an.
The fact is that everybody knows this truth very well but many
people deceive themselves by putting forward the excuse of going
along with the majority and thinking that they can deceive those
around them. However, when they enter the Hereafter they will find
that the large community of people they went along with cannot save
them just as they cannot save themselves. Allah tells us about the state
of such people in the Qur'an:
No indeed! If he does not desist, We will grab him by the
forelock, a lying, sinful forelock. Let him call his attendants;
We will call the Guards of Hell! No indeed! Do not obey him,
but prostrate and draw near. (Surat al-'Alaq: 15-19)
A person in this position has ignored the approval of Allah in
order to fit in with those around him and has never considered that he
will come face to face with the Day of Judgment. Now he will go to the
Fire along with the irreligious majority to whom he attached great im-
portance and for whose approval he neglected Allah. This being the
case, do not deceive yourself and distance yourself from the faith by
making the excuse of going along with the majority. Never abandon
what you know from the Qur'an to be right, and live by what is right
even if you do so alone. Do not forget that the determination you show
in gaining Allah's approval will be the means for you to live eternally
in the shelter of His great mercy.
Those who say: "I am following scientific progress"

Another of the factors which drive people to neglect their religion
is the existence of scientists who fall into the error of rejecting Allah
and the Day of Judgment.
The age in which we live is one in which science has made major
advances and in which, from the scientific point of view, we are en-
countering things which have never previously been experienced in
history. With the opportunities provided by science and technology,
we are observing the order and design in the universe, realizing the
flawlessness of the systems created by Allah, getting to know more
closely a large number of truths about the way living creatures were
created and discovering the miracles of the Qur'an one by one.
However, there are also people who use science for their own
worldly benefit and try to use it to support their opposition to religion.
These people present themselves as scientists but they use science not
to research and discover the facts but to bolster their own ideologies.
They ignore the flawless creation in the universe and living things and
their miraculous characteristics, and put forward the false claim that
everything came into existence by itself and by chance. Their purpose
is to reject the existence of Allah and make their communities reject it
too. By this means they want to create communities made up of sepa-
rate individuals in which nobody feels responsibility for anybody else
and in which immorality of every type becomes widespread.

The vast majority of people are easily influenced by those scien-
tists who are merely determined to spread their own ideas. Scientists
are regarded as those best qualified to make the best assessments on
every subject. This is however a wrong assumption. Of course, there
are valuable scientists who use science for its true purpose and whose
knowledge we can benefit from on a great many matters. However, in
scientific circles there are people outside this category who pervert
and conceal the facts and mislead others for their own worldly advan-
tage. For this reason, scientists, like everybody else, should not be
judged solely according to their scientific credentials or the number of
their qualifications, but according to whether they use the knowledge
they possess in accordance with the purpose of their creation, and live
in the manner which Allah approves. This is the correct approach for a
person who believes in Allah.
As we said earlier, Allah states in the Qur'an that conformity to
the majority is harmful and that it is the majority which persists in its
resistance to the faith. Since this is the case, a person should not accept
the word of others without investigating and learning the details, and
should reach the correct conclusion by relying on his own intelligence
and conscience. In the following verse of the Qur'an, Allah points this
out to us: "Do not pursue what you have no knowledge of. Hearing,
sight and hearts will all be questioned" (Surat al-Isra': 36). So accept-
ing and following the word of others right away is nothing but self-de-
ception.
A person is responsible for conforming to what is right as Allah
instructs and for advising others to do so. This is the truth, and putting
forward excuses in an attempt to deceive yourself and those around
you can bring no benefit in the Hereafter. In the Qur'an, Allah warns us
that there will always be people who invite others to unbelief and
make promises on this matter, and points out that such people and
those who follow them will meet with suffering:
Those who disbelieve say to those who believe, "Follow our
way and we will bear the weight of your mistakes." They will
not bear the weight of a single one of their mistakes. Truly
they are liars. They will bear their own burdens and other
burdens together with their own. On the Day of Resurrection
they will be questioned about what they invented. (Surat al-
'Ankabut: 12-13)
The End Awaiting Those
Who Deceive Themselves
t the beginning of this book we said that Prophet Ibrahim
A (as) realized the existence and greatness of Allah and imme-

diately understood the necessity of serving Him through
the use of his own conscience, without having to be taught. You should
know that everybody has the same conscience. What distinguishes
people regarded as having no conscience from those whose conscience
is strongly developed is that the former close their eyes and stop up
their ears against what they know to be true, while the latter do not.
People who heed the voice of their conscience at every moment
like Prophet Ibrahim (as), a prophet praised by Allah in the Qur'an,
lead beautiful and tranquil lives because such people possess the spir-
itual ease which comes with conformity to what is right and hoping
for a fine reward in the Hereafter. The exact opposite is true of people
who do not heed their consciences. These people suffer the secret pain,
the hidden torment of the conscience, of knowing that their failure to
The End Awaiting Those Who Deceive Themselves 65
conform to what is right and true will bring them serious punishment
in the Hereafter. Wherever they go, whatever they do, this pain never
lets them alone. Even if they own the biggest fortune in the world and
travel around from one country to another, they are never spared this
spiritual pressure.
The truth is that this tormented conscience is a warning from
Allah to these people to turn back from their wrongdoing. For this rea-
son, to the faithful it is a great blessing because it encourages people to
come to their senses, repent and correct their behavior. However, for
people who have abandoned religion and sincerity, it is torture in the
full sense of the word. Although they know the reason for this torment
they experience, they ignore its cause instead of taking steps to rectify
it. As a result of the tension brought about by this contradiction in their
lives, they can never be truly happy and at peace.
So, as we said at the beginning of this book, people who deceive
themselves by ignoring and refusing to understand the truth even
though they know it, live their entire lives in spiritual torment. While
their consciences are under this spiritual pressure and suffering this
torment, they try to ease their discomfort with artificial pleasures, but
they can never succeed because the only way of easing a tormented
conscience is to repent and submit to Allah.
If, instead of listening to your conscience, you too deceive your-
self with various excuses and follow your own selfish desires and pas-
sions, you too will experience an inner torment against which you can
never defend yourself. However, the gravest consequence of this form
of self-deception is that the pains you suffer are not solely limited to
the life of this world because Allah tells us that people who deceive
themselves in the life of this world and ignore the Day of Judgment
will be met with great pain and sorrow in the Hereafter. In fact in the
Qur'an, the Day of Judgment is referred to as the "Day of Profit and
Loss":
On the Day He gathers you for the Day of Gathering – that is
the Day of Profit and Loss. As for those who believe in Allah
and act rightly, We will erase their bad actions from them and
admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, re-
maining in them timelessly, for ever and ever. That is the
great victory! But as for those who are unbelievers and deny
Our signs they are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in
it timelessly, for ever. What an evil destination! (Surat at-
Taghabun: 9-10)
The "loss" described in the verses begins with the unbeliever's
death and continues with their resurrection and calling to account
after which they find their true home by being sent to Hell. The Qur'an
tells us of some of the things which people who are deceived by
Satan's promises and who deceive themselves with excuses in the life
of the world will encounter in Hell:
The throes of death come revealing the truth. That is what
you were trying to evade! The Trumpet will be blown. That is
the Day of the Threat. Every self will come together with a
driver and a witness: "You were heedless of this so We have
stripped you of your covering and today your sight is sharp."
His inseparable comrade will say, "This is what I have ready
for you." "Hurl into Hell every obdurate disbeliever, impeder
of good, doubt-causing aggressor, who set up another deity
together with Allah. Hurl him into the terrible punishment."
His inseparable comrade will say, "Our Lord, I did not make
him overstep the limits. He was, in any case, far astray." He
The End Awaiting Those Who Deceive Themselves 67
will say, "Do not argue in My presence when I gave you ad-
vance warning of the Threat. My word, once given, is not
subject to change and I do not wrong My servants." On the
Day He says to Hell, "Are you full?" it will ask, "Are there no
more to come?" (Surah Qaf: 19-30)
The Advantages of Sincerity
Over Self-Deception
hroughout eternity a person is tested only once and this pe-
T riod of testing is made up, on average, of six or seven

decades. A person's behavior during this testing period de-
termines the form of his eternal life. If someone spends this brief but
extremely important period in self-deception, he fails the test. The
truth is this: By deceiving himself, a person can neither change the
truth nor evade his responsibility. On the contrary, running away from
the truth works only against the person himself. At every moment
when he silences his conscience and tries to comfort himself with all
kinds of illusory excuses and rationalizations, he is really suffering a
terrible loss. Unless Allah wills it, the return for this lack of intelligence
will be a sorrow which can never be relieved.
Since this is the case, there is no need for self-deception. It is suffi-
cient to carry out one's duty of serving Allah with very clear knowl-
edge and care. This is possible if the person heeds the voice of his con-
science and conforms to Allah's Book. For a sincere believer, there is no
The Advantages of Sincerity Over Self-Deception 69
other way. The finest and most beneficial way for a person is to be con-
stantly aware that each moment brings him a little closer to death and
the Day of Judgment, and that every act and every thought which
crosses his mind is known to Allah.
Know that this is the way which leads to sincerity towards Allah
and that it is actually the simplest. After a little thought and a clear de-
cision, a person can live his entire life in the clarity of knowledge
which that decision brings. Once he gains this clarity of knowledge, it
will not allow him to do himself any serious damage by deceiving
himself.
Do not forget that deceiving yourself is like playing with fire.
While a person is enjoying himself and devoting himself wholly to
worldly things, he may at any moment find angels at his side who
have come to take his life. Will he be able to continue the same game
and the same deception when the angels, as a verse of the Qur'an has
it, "pluck out harshly"?
Will he be able to say, "How well I have done. Throughout my life
in the world I have eaten, drunk, traveled, enjoyed myself and ignored
my responsibilities and my duty of obedience"? Of course not. This is
an idea which would not occur even to the most heedless person. On
the contrary, at that moment he will experience indescribable panic
and terror, and that is just the beginning. When he enters the gates of
Hell this terror and remorse will be unbearable, and he will suffer eter-
nal torment.
This is a truth which should not be neglected even for only a mo-
ment. Allah points this out in the Qur'an and describes the remorse
and helplessness of the ones who deceive themselves as follows:
Turn to your Lord and submit to Him before punishment
comes upon you, for then you cannot be helped. Follow the
best that has been sent down to you from your Lord before
the punishment comes upon you suddenly when you are not
expecting it; lest anyone should say, "Alas for me for neglect-
ing what Allah was due, and being one of the scoffers!" or lest
they should say, "If only Allah had guided me, I would have
had fear of Allah," or lest he should say, when he sees the
punishment, "If only I could have another chance so that I
could be a good-doer!" (Surat az-Zumar: 54-58)
The Deception of Evolution
arwinism, in other words the theory of evolution, was put
D forward with the aim of denying the fact of creation, but is

in truth nothing but failed, unscientific nonsense. This the-
ory, which claims that life emerged by chance from inanimate matter,
was invalidated by the scientific evidence of clear "design" in the uni-
verse and in living things. In this way, science confirmed the fact that
Allah created the universe and the living things in it. The propaganda
carried out today in order to keep the theory of evolution alive is based
solely on the distortion of the scientific facts, biased interpretation, and
lies and falsehoods disguised as science.
Yet this propaganda cannot conceal the truth. The fact that the
theory of evolution is the greatest deception in the history of science
has been expressed more and more in the scientific world over the last
20-30 years. Research carried out after the 1980s in particular has re-
vealed that the claims of Darwinism are totally unfounded, something
that has been stated by a large number of scientists. In the United
States in particular, many scientists from such different fields as biol-
ogy, biochemistry and paleontology recognize the invalidity of
Darwinism and employ the fact of creation to account for the origin of
life.
We have examined the collapse of the theory of evolution and the
proofs of creation in great scientific detail in many of our works, and
are still continuing to do so. Given the enormous importance of this
subject, it will be of great benefit to summarize it here.
The Scientific Collapse of Darwinism

Although this doctrine goes back as far as ancient Greece, the the-
ory of evolution was advanced extensively in the nineteenth century.
The most important development that made it the top topic of the
world of science was Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, published
in 1859. In this book, he denied that Allah created different living
species on Earth separately, for he claimed that all living beings had a
common ancestor and had diversified over time through small
changes. Darwin's theory was not based on any concrete scientific
finding; as he also accepted, it was just an "assumption." Moreover, as
Darwin confessed in the long chapter of his book titled "Difficulties on
Theory," the theory failed in the face of many critical questions.
Darwin invested all of his hopes in new scientific discoveries,
which he expected to solve these difficulties. However, contrary to his
expectations, scientific findings expanded the dimensions of these dif-
ficulties. The defeat of Darwinism in the face of science can be re-
viewed under three basic topics:
1) The theory cannot explain how life originated on Earth.
2) No scientific finding shows that the "evolutionary mecha-
nisms" proposed by the theory have any evolutionary power at all.
3) The fossil record proves the exact opposite of what the theory
suggests.
The Deception of Evolution 73
In this section, we will examine these three basic points in general

outlines:
The First Insurmountable Step:

The Origin of Life
The theory of evolution posits that all living species evolved from
a single living cell that emerged on the primitive Earth 3.8 billion years
ago. How a single cell could generate millions of complex living
species and, if such an evolution really occurred, why traces of it can-
not be observed in the fossil record are some of the questions that the
theory cannot answer. However, first and foremost, we need to ask:
How did this "first cell" originate?
Since the theory of evolution denies creation and any kind of su-
pernatural intervention, it maintains that the "first cell" originated co-
incidentally within the laws of nature, without any design, plan or
arrangement. According to the theory, inanimate matter must have
produced a living cell as a result of coincidences. Such a claim, how-
ever, is inconsistent with the most unassailable rules of biology.
"Life Comes From Life"

In his book, Darwin never referred to the origin of life. The primi-
tive understanding of science in his time rested on the assumption that
living beings had a very simple structure. Since medieval times, spon-
taneous generation, which asserts that non-living materials came to-
gether to form living organisms, had been widely accepted. It was
commonly believed that insects came into being from food leftovers,
and mice from wheat. Interesting experiments were conducted to
prove this theory. Some wheat was placed on a dirty piece of cloth, and
it was believed that mice would originate from it after a while.
Similarly, maggots developing in rotting meat was assumed to be

evidence of spontaneous generation. However, it was later under-
stood that worms did not appear on meat spontaneously, but were car-
ried there by flies in the form of larvae, invisible to the naked eye.
Even when Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, the belief that bac-
teria could come into existence from non-living matter was widely ac-
cepted in the world of science.
However, five years after the publication of Darwin's book, Louis
Pasteur announced his results after long studies and experiments, that
disproved spontaneous generation, a cornerstone of Darwin's theory.
In his triumphal lecture at the Sorbonne in 1864, Pasteur said: "Never
will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal
blow struck by this simple experiment."1
For a long time, advocates of the theory of evolution resisted
these findings. However, as the development of science unraveled the
complex structure of the cell of a living being, the idea that life could
come into being coincidentally faced an even greater impasse.
Inconclusive Efforts of the Twentieth Century

The first evolutionist who took up the subject of the origin of life
in the twentieth century was the renowned Russian biologist
Alexander Oparin. With various theses he advanced in the 1930s, he
tried to prove that a living cell could originate by coincidence. These
studies, however, were doomed to failure, and Oparin had to make the
following confession:
Unfortunately, however, the problem of the origin of the cell is perhaps the
most obscure point in the whole study of the evolution of organisms.2
Evolutionist followers of Oparin tried to carry out experiments to
solve this problem. The best known experiment was carried out by the
American chemist Stanley Miller in 1953. Combining the gases he al-
leged to have existed in the primordial Earth's atmosphere in an ex-
periment set-up, and adding energy to the mixture, Miller synthesized
several organic molecules (amino acids) present in the structure of
proteins.
Barely a few years had passed before it was revealed that this ex-
periment, which was then presented as an important step in the name
of evolution, was invalid, for the atmosphere used in the experiment
was very different from the real Earth conditions.3
After a long silence, Miller confessed that the atmosphere
medium he used was unrealistic.4
All the evolutionists' efforts throughout the twentieth century to
explain the origin of life ended in failure. The geochemist Jeffrey Bada,
from the San Diego Scripps Institute accepts this fact in an article pub-
lished in Earth magazine in 1998:
Today as we leave the twentieth century, we still face the biggest unsolved
problem that we had when we entered the twentieth century: How did life
originate on Earth?5
The Complex Structure of Life

The primary reason why the theory of evolution ended up in such
a great impasse regarding the origin of life is that even those living or-
ganisms deemed to be the simplest have incredibly complex struc-
tures. The cell of a living thing is more complex than all of our man-
made technological products. Today, even in the most developed labo-
ratories of the world, a living cell cannot be produced by bringing or-
ganic chemicals together.
The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great in
quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of pro-
teins, the building blocks of a cell, being synthesized coincidentally, is
1 in 10950 for an average protein made up of 500 amino acids. In math-
ematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 1050 is considered to be im-
possible in practical terms.
The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of a cell and
which stores genetic information, is an incredible databank. If the in-
formation coded in DNA were written down, it would make a giant li-
brary consisting of an estimated 900 volumes of encyclopedias consist-
ing of 500 pages each.
A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: DNA can repli-
cate itself only with the help of some specialized proteins (enzymes).
However, the synthesis of these enzymes can be realized only by the
information coded in DNA. As they both depend on each other, they
have to exist at the same time for replication. This brings the scenario
that life originated by itself to a deadlock. Prof. Leslie Orgel, an evolu-
tionist of repute from the University of San Diego, California, con-
fesses this fact in the September 1994 issue of the Scientific American
magazine:
It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic acids, both of which
are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in the same place at the
same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have one without the other. And
so, at first glance, one might have to conclude that life could never, in fact,
have originated by chemical means.6
No doubt, if it is impossible for life to have originated from natu-
ral causes, then it has to be accepted that life was "created" in a super-
natural way. This fact explicitly invalidates the theory of evolution,
whose main purpose is to deny creation.
Imaginary Mechanism of Evolution

The second important point that negates Darwin's theory is that
both concepts put forward by the theory as "evolutionary mecha-
nisms" were understood to have, in reality, no evolutionary power.
Darwin based his evolution allegation entirely on the mechanism
of "natural selection." The importance he placed on this mechanism
was evident in the name of his book: The Origin of Species, By Means of
Natural Selection…
Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger
and more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will survive
in the struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under the threat of
attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will survive.
Therefore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and stronger indi-
viduals. However, unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause deer
to evolve and transform themselves into another living species, for in-
stance, horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolution-
ary power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in
his book The Origin of Species:
Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differences or
variations occur.7
Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried to
answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive understand-
ing of science at that time. According to the French biologist Chevalier
de Lamarck (1744-1829), who lived before Darwin, living creatures

passed on the traits they acquired during their lifetime to the next gen-
eration. He asserted that these traits, which accumulated from one
generation to another, caused new species to be formed. For instance,
he claimed that giraffes evolved from antelopes; as they struggled to
eat the leaves of high trees, their necks were extended from generation
to generation.
Darwin also gave similar examples. In his book The Origin of
Species, for instance, he said that some bears going into water to find
food transformed themselves into whales over time.8
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel
(1822-84) and verified by the science of genetics, which flourished in
the twentieth century, utterly demolished the legend that acquired
traits were passed on to subsequent generations. Thus, natural selec-
tion fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.
Neo-Darwinism and Mutations

In order to find a solution, Darwinists advanced the "Modern
Synthetic Theory," or as it is more commonly known, Neo-Darwinism,
at the end of the 1930s. Neo-Darwinism added mutations, which are
distortions formed in the genes of living beings due to such external
factors as radiation or replication errors, as the "cause of favorable
variations" in addition to natural mutation.
Today, the model that stands for evolution in the world is Neo-
Darwinism. The theory maintains that millions of living beings
formed as a result of a process whereby numerous complex organs of
these organisms (e.g., ears, eyes, lungs, and wings) underwent "muta-
tions," that is, genetic disorders. Yet, there is an outright scientific fact
that totally undermines this theory: Mutations do not cause living be-
ings to develop; on the contrary, they are always harmful.

The reason for this is very simple: DNA has a very complex struc-
ture, and random effects can only harm it. The American geneticist B.
G. Ranganathan explains this as follows:
First, genuine mutations are very rare in nature. Secondly, most muta-
tions are harmful since they are random, rather than orderly changes in
the structure of genes; any random change in a highly ordered system will
be for the worse, not for the better. For example, if an earthquake were to
shake a highly ordered structure such as a building, there would be a ran-
dom change in the framework of the building which, in all probability,
would not be an improvement.9
Not surprisingly, no mutation example, which is useful, that is,
which is observed to develop the genetic code, has been observed so
far. All mutations have proved to be harmful. It was understood that
mutation, which is presented as an "evolutionary mechanism," is actu-
ally a genetic occurrence that harms living things, and leaves them dis-
abled. (The most common effect of mutation on human beings is can-
cer.) Of course, a destructive mechanism cannot be an "evolutionary
mechanism." Natural selection, on the other hand, "can do nothing by
itself," as Darwin also accepted. This fact shows us that there is no
"evolutionary mechanism" in nature. Since no evolutionary mecha-
nism exists, no such any imaginary process called "evolution" could
have taken place.
The Fossil Record: No Sign of Intermediate Forms

The clearest evidence that the scenario suggested by the theory of
evolution did not take place is the fossil record.
According to this theory, every living species has sprung from a
predecessor. A previously existing species turned into something else
over time and all species have come into being in this way. In other
words, this transformation proceeds gradually over millions of years.
Had this been the case, numerous intermediary species should
have existed and lived within this long transformation period.
For instance, some half-fish/half-reptiles should have lived in the
past which had acquired some reptilian traits in addition to the fish
traits they already had. Or there should have existed some reptile-
birds, which acquired some bird traits in addition to the reptilian traits
they already had. Since these would be in a transitional phase, they
should be disabled, defective, crippled living beings. Evolutionists
refer to these imaginary creatures, which they believe to have lived in
the past, as "transitional forms."
If such animals ever really existed, there should be millions and
even billions of them in number and variety. More importantly, the re-
mains of these strange creatures should be present in the fossil record.
In The Origin of Species, Darwin explained:
If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking most
closely all of the species of the same group together must assuredly have ex-
isted... Consequently, evidence of their former existence could be found
only amongst fossil remains.10
Darwin's Hopes Shattered

However, although evolutionists have been making strenuous ef-
forts to find fossils since the middle of the nineteenth century all over
the world, no transitional forms have yet been uncovered. All of the
fossils, contrary to the evolutionists' expectations, show that life ap-
peared on Earth all of a sudden and fully-formed.
One famous British paleontologist, Derek V. Ager, admits this
fact, even though he is an evolutionist:

The point emerges that if we examine the fossil record in detail, whether at
the level of orders or of species, we find—over and over again—not gradual
evolution, but the sudden explosion of one group at the expense of another.11
This means that in the fossil record, all living species suddenly
emerge as fully formed, without any intermediate forms in between.
This is just the opposite of Darwin's assumptions. Also, this is very
strong evidence that all living things are created. The only explanation
of a living species emerging suddenly and complete in every detail
without any evolutionary ancestor is that it was created. This fact is
admitted also by the widely known evolutionist biologist Douglas
Futuyma:
Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations
for the origin of living things. Organisms either appeared on the earth
fully developed or they did not. If they did not, they must have developed
from pre-existing species by some process of modification. If they did ap-
pear in a fully developed state, they must indeed have been created by some
omnipotent intelligence.12
Fossils show that living beings emerged fully developed and in a
perfect state on the Earth. That means that "the origin of species," con-
trary to Darwin's supposition, is not evolution, but creation.
The Tale of Human Evolution

The subject most often brought up by advocates of the theory of
evolution is the subject of the origin of man. The Darwinist claim holds
that modern man evolved from ape-like creatures. During this alleged
evolutionary process, which is supposed to have started 4-5 million
years ago, some "transitional forms" between modern man and his an-
cestors are supposed to have existed. According to this completely

imaginary scenario, four basic "categories" are listed:
1. Australopithecus
2. Homo habilis
3. Homo erectus
4. Homo sapiens
Evolutionists call man's so-called first ape-like ancestors
Australopithecus, which means "South African ape." These living be-
ings are actually nothing but an old ape species that has become ex-
tinct. Extensive research done on various Australopithecus specimens
by two world famous anatomists from England and the USA, namely,
Lord Solly Zuckerman and Prof. Charles Oxnard, shows that these
apes belonged to an ordinary ape species that became extinct and bore
no resemblance to humans.13
Evolutionists classify the next stage of human evolution as
"homo," that is "man." According to their claim, the living beings in the
Homo series are more developed than Australopithecus. Evolutionists
devise a fanciful evolution scheme by arranging different fossils of
these creatures in a particular order. This scheme is imaginary because
it has never been proved that there is an evolutionary relation between
these different classes. Ernst Mayr, one of the twentieth century's most
important evolutionists, contends in his book One Long Argument that
"particularly historical [puzzles] such as the origin of life or of Homo
sapiens, are extremely difficult and may even resist a final, satisfying
explanation."14
By outlining the link chain as Australopithecus > Homo habilis >
Homo erectus > Homo sapiens, evolutionists imply that each of these
species is one another's ancestor. However, recent findings of paleoan-
thropologists have revealed that Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and

Homo erectus lived at different parts of the world at the same time.15
Moreover, a certain segment of humans classified as Homo erectus
have lived up until very modern times. Homo sapiens neandarthalensis
and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) co-existed in the same re-
gion.16
This situation apparently indicates the invalidity of the claim that
they are ancestors of one another. Stephen Jay Gould explained this
deadlock of the theory of evolution, although he was himself one of
the leading advocates of evolution in the twentieth century:
What has become of our ladder if there are three coexisting lineages of ho-
minids (A. africanus, the robust australopithecines, and H. habilis), none
clearly derived from another? Moreover, none of the three display any evo-
lutionary trends during their tenure on earth.17
Put briefly, the scenario of human evolution, which is "upheld"
with the help of various drawings of some "half ape, half human" crea-
tures appearing in the media and course books, that is, frankly, by
means of propaganda, is nothing but a tale with no scientific founda-
tion.
Lord Solly Zuckerman, one of the most famous and respected sci-
entists in the U.K., who carried out research on this subject for years
and studied Australopithecus fossils for 15 years, finally concluded, de-
spite being an evolutionist himself, that there is, in fact, no such family
tree branching out from ape-like creatures to man.
Zuckerman also made an interesting "spectrum of science" rang-
ing from those he considered scientific to those he considered unscien-
tific. According to Zuckerman's spectrum, the most "scientific"—that
is, depending on concrete data—fields of science are chemistry and
physics. After them come the biological sciences and then the social
sciences. At the far end of the spectrum, which is the part considered to
be most "unscientific," are "extra-sensory perception"—concepts such
as telepathy and sixth sense—and finally "human evolution."
Zuckerman explains his reasoning:
We then move right off the register of objective truth into those fields of
presumed biological science, like extrasensory perception or the interpreta-
tion of man's fossil history, where to the faithful [evolutionist] anything is
possible—and where the ardent believer [in evolution] is sometimes able to
believe several contradictory things at the same time.18
The tale of human evolution boils down to nothing but the preju-
diced interpretations of some fossils unearthed by certain people, who
blindly adhere to their theory.
Darwinian Formula!
Besides all the technical evidence we have dealt with so far, let us
now for once, examine what kind of a superstition the evolutionists
have with an example so simple as to be understood even by children:
The theory of evolution asserts that life is formed by chance.
According to this claim, lifeless and unconscious atoms came together
to form the cell and then they somehow formed other living things, in-
cluding man. Let us think about that. When we bring together the ele-
ments that are the building-blocks of life such as carbon, phosphorus,
nitrogen and potassium, only a heap is formed. No matter what treat-
ments it undergoes, this atomic heap cannot form even a single living
being. If you like, let us formulate an "experiment" on this subject and
let us examine on the behalf of evolutionists what they really claim
without pronouncing loudly under the name "Darwinian formula":
Let evolutionists put plenty of materials present in the composi-

tion of living things such as phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen,
iron, and magnesium into big barrels. Moreover, let them add in these
barrels any material that does not exist under normal conditions, but
they think as necessary. Let them add in this mixture as many amino
acids and as many proteins—a single one of which has a formation
probability of 10-950—as they like. Let them expose these mixtures to as
much heat and moisture as they like. Let them stir these with whatever
technologically developed device they like. Let them put the foremost
scientists beside these barrels. Let these experts wait in turn beside
these barrels for billions, and even trillions of years. Let them be free to
use all kinds of conditions they believe to be necessary for a human's
formation. No matter what they do, they cannot produce from these
barrels a human, say a professor that examines his cell structure under
the electron microscope. They cannot produce giraffes, lions, bees, ca-
naries, horses, dolphins, roses, orchids, lilies, carnations, bananas, or-
anges, apples, dates, tomatoes, melons, watermelons, figs, olives,
grapes, peaches, peafowls, pheasants, multicoloured butterflies, or
millions of other living beings such as these. Indeed, they could not
obtain even a single cell of any one of them.
Briefly, unconscious atoms cannot form the cell by coming to-
gether. They cannot take a new decision and divide this cell into two,
then take other decisions and create the professors who first invent the
electron microscope and then examine their own cell structure under
that microscope. Matter is an unconscious, lifeless heap, and it comes
to life with Allah's superior creation.
The theory of evolution, which claims the opposite, is a total fal-
lacy completely contrary to reason. Thinking even a little bit on the
claims of evolutionists discloses this reality, just as in the above exam-

ple.
Technology in the Eye and the Ear

Another subject that remains unanswered by evolutionary theory
is the excellent quality of perception in the eye and the ear.
Before passing on to the subject of the eye, let us briefly answer
the question of how we see. Light rays coming from an object fall op-
positely on the eye's retina. Here, these light rays are transmitted into
electric signals by cells and reach a tiny spot at the back of the brain,
the "center of vision." These electric signals are perceived in this center
as an image after a series of processes. With this technical background,
let us do some thinking.
The brain is insulated from light. That means that its inside is
completely dark, and that no light reaches the place where it is located.
Thus, the "center of vision" is never touched by light and may even be
the darkest place you have ever known. However, you observe a lumi-
nous, bright world in this pitch darkness.
The image formed in the eye is so sharp and distinct that even the
technology of the twentieth century has not been able to attain it. For
instance, look at the book you are reading, your hands with which you
are holding it, and then lift your head and look around you. Have you
ever seen such a sharp and distinct image as this one at any other
place? Even the most developed television screen produced by the
greatest television producer in the world cannot provide such a sharp
image for you. This is a three-dimensional, colored, and extremely
sharp image. For more than 100 years, thousands of engineers have
been trying to achieve this sharpness. Factories, huge premises were
established, much research has been done, plans and designs have
been made for this purpose. Again, look at a TV screen and the book
you hold in your hands. You will see that there is a big difference in
sharpness and distinction. Moreover, the TV screen shows you a two-
dimensional image, whereas with your eyes, you watch a three-di-
mensional perspective with depth.
For many years, tens of thousands of engineers have tried to
make a three-dimensional TV and achieve the vision quality of the eye.
Yes, they have made a three-dimensional television system, but it is
not possible to watch it without putting on special 3-D glasses; more-
over, it is only an artificial three-dimension. The background is more
blurred, the foreground appears like a paper setting. Never has it been
possible to produce a sharp and distinct vision like that of the eye. In
both the camera and the television, there is a loss of image quality.
Evolutionists claim that the mechanism producing this sharp and
distinct image has been formed by chance. Now, if somebody told you
that the television in your room was formed as a result of chance, that
all of its atoms just happened to come together and make up this de-
vice that produces an image, what would you think? How can atoms
do what thousands of people cannot?
If a device producing a more primitive image than the eye could
not have been formed by chance, then it is very evident that the eye
and the image seen by the eye could not have been formed by chance.
The same situation applies to the ear. The outer ear picks up the avail-
able sounds by the auricle and directs them to the middle ear, the mid-
dle ear transmits the sound vibrations by intensifying them, and the
inner ear sends these vibrations to the brain by translating them into
electric signals. Just as with the eye, the act of hearing finalizes in the
center of hearing in the brain.

The situation in the eye is also true for the ear. That is, the brain is
insulated from sound just as it is from light. It does not let any sound
in. Therefore, no matter how noisy is the outside, the inside of the
brain is completely silent. Nevertheless, the sharpest sounds are per-
ceived in the brain. In your completely silent brain, you listen to sym-
phonies, and hear all of the noises in a crowded place. However, were
the sound level in your brain measured by a precise device at that mo-
ment, complete silence would be found to be prevailing there.
As is the case with imagery, decades of effort have been spent in
trying to generate and reproduce sound that is faithful to the original.
The results of these efforts are sound recorders, high-fidelity systems,
and systems for sensing sound. Despite all of this technology and the
thousands of engineers and experts who have been working on this
endeavor, no sound has yet been obtained that has the same sharpness
and clarity as the sound perceived by the ear. Think of the highest-
quality hi-fi systems produced by the largest company in the music in-
dustry. Even in these devices, when sound is recorded some of it is
lost; or when you turn on a hi-fi you always hear a hissing sound be-
fore the music starts. However, the sounds that are the products of the
human body's technology are extremely sharp and clear. A human ear
never perceives a sound accompanied by a hissing sound or with at-
mospherics as does a hi-fi; rather, it perceives sound exactly as it is,
sharp and clear. This is the way it has been since the creation of man.
So far, no man-made visual or recording apparatus has been as
sensitive and successful in perceiving sensory data as are the eye and
the ear. However, as far as seeing and hearing are concerned, a far
greater truth lies beyond all this.
To Whom Does the Consciousness That Sees

and Hears within the Brain Belong?
Who watches an alluring world in the brain, listens to sym-
phonies and the twittering of birds, and smells the rose?
The stimulations coming from a person's eyes, ears, and nose
travel to the brain as electro-chemical nerve impulses. In biology,
physiology, and biochemistry books, you can find many details about
how this image forms in the brain. However, you will never come
across the most important fact: Who perceives these electro-chemical
nerve impulses as images, sounds, odors, and sensory events in the
brain? There is a consciousness in the brain that perceives all this with-
out feeling any need for an eye, an ear, and a nose. To whom does this
consciousness belong? Of course it does not belong to the nerves, the
fat layer, and neurons comprising the brain. This is why Darwinist-
materialists, who believe that everything is comprised of matter, can-
not answer these questions.
For this consciousness is the spirit created by Allah, which needs
neither the eye to watch the images nor the ear to hear the sounds.
Furthermore, it does not need the brain to think.
Everyone who reads this explicit and scientific fact should pon-
der on Almighty Allah, and fear and seek refuge in Him, for He
squeezes the entire universe in a pitch-dark place of a few cubic cen-
timeters in a three-dimensional, colored, shadowy, and luminous
form.
A Materialist Faith
The information we have presented so far shows us that the the-
ory of evolution is incompatible with scientific findings. The theory's
claim regarding the origin of life is inconsistent with science, the evo-
lutionary mechanisms it proposes have no evolutionary power, and
fossils demonstrate that the required intermediate forms have never
existed. So, it certainly follows that the theory of evolution should be
pushed aside as an unscientific idea. This is how many ideas, such as
the Earth-centered universe model, have been taken out of the agenda
of science throughout history.
However, the theory of evolution is kept on the agenda of science.
Some people even try to represent criticisms directed against it as an
"attack on science." Why?
The reason is that this theory is an indispensable dogmatic belief
for some circles. These circles are blindly devoted to materialist philos-
ophy and adopt Darwinism because it is the only materialist explana-
tion that can be put forward to explain the workings of nature.
Interestingly enough, they also confess this fact from time to time.
A well-known geneticist and an outspoken evolutionist, Richard C.
Lewontin from Harvard University, confesses that he is "first and fore-
most a materialist and then a scientist":
It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us
accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the con-
trary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to cre-
ate an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce mate-
rial explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mysti-
fying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we can-
not allow a Divine Foot in the door.19
These are explicit statements that Darwinism is a dogma kept
alive just for the sake of adherence to materialism. This dogma main-
tains that there is no being save matter. Therefore, it argues that inani-
mate, unconscious matter created life. It insists that millions of differ-

ent living species (e.g., birds, fish, giraffes, tigers, insects, trees, flow-
ers, whales, and human beings) originated as a result of the interac-
tions between matter such as pouring rain, lightning flashes, and so
on, out of inanimate matter. This is a precept contrary both to reason
and science. Yet Darwinists continue to defend it just so as "not to
allow a Divine Foot in the door."
Anyone who does not look at the origin of living beings with a
materialist prejudice will see this evident truth: All living beings are
works of a Creator, Who is All-Powerful, All-Wise, and All-Knowing.
This Creator is Allah, Who created the whole universe from non-exis-
tence, designed it in the most perfect form, and fashioned all living be-
ings.
The Theory of Evolution:

The Most Potent Spell in the World
Anyone free of prejudice and the influence of any particular ide-
ology, who uses only his or her reason and logic, will clearly under-
stand that belief in the theory of evolution, which brings to mind the
superstitions of societies with no knowledge of science or civilization,
is quite impossible.
As explained above, those who believe in the theory of evolution
think that a few atoms and molecules thrown into a huge vat could
produce thinking, reasoning professors and university students; such
scientists as Einstein and Galileo; such artists as Humphrey Bogart,
Frank Sinatra and Luciano Pavarotti; as well as antelopes, lemon trees,
and carnations. Moreover, as the scientists and professors who believe
in this nonsense are educated people, it is quite justifiable to speak of
this theory as "the most potent spell in history." Never before has any
other belief or idea so taken away peoples' powers of reason, refused
to allow them to think intelligently and logically, and hidden the truth
from them as if they had been blindfolded. This is an even worse and
unbelievable blindness than the Egyptians worshipping the Sun God
Ra, totem worship in some parts of Africa, the people of Saba worship-
ping the Sun, the tribe of Prophet Ibrahim (as) worshipping idols they
had made with their own hands, or the people of Prophet Musa (as)
worshipping the Golden Calf.
In fact, Allah has pointed to this lack of reason in the Qur'an. In
many verses, He reveals that some peoples' minds will be closed and
that they will be powerless to see the truth. Some of these verses are as
follows:
As for those who do not believe, it makes no difference to
them whether you warn them or do not warn them, they will
not believe. Allah has sealed up their hearts and hearing and
over their eyes is a blindfold. They will have a terrible pun-
ishment. (Surat al-Baqara: 6-7)
… They have hearts with which they do not understand.
They have eyes with which they do not see. They have ears
with which they do not hear. Such people are like cattle. No,
they are even further astray! They are the unaware. (Surat al-
A`raf: 179)
Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they
spent the day ascending through it, they would only say:
"Our eyesight is befuddled! Or rather we have been put
under a spell!" (Surat al-Hijr: 14-15)
Words cannot express just how astonishing it is that this spell
should hold such a wide community in thrall, keep people from the
truth, and not be broken for 150 years. It is understandable that one or
a few people might believe in impossible scenarios and claims full of
stupidity and illogicality. However, "magic" is the only possible expla-
nation for people from all over the world believing that unconscious
and lifeless atoms suddenly decided to come together and form a uni-
verse that functions with a flawless system of organization, discipline,
reason, and consciousness; a planet named Earth with all of its fea-
tures so perfectly suited to life; and living things full of countless com-
plex systems.
In fact, the Qur'an relates the incident of Prophet Musa (as) and
Pharaoh to show that some people who support atheistic philosophies
actually influence others by magic. When Pharaoh was told about the
true religion, he told Prophet Musa (as) to meet with his own magi-
cians. When Musa (as) did so, he told them to demonstrate their abili-
ties first. The verses continue:
He said: "You throw." And when they threw, they cast a spell
on the people's eyes and caused them to feel great fear of
them. They produced an extremely powerful magic. (Surat al-
A`raf: 116)
As we have seen, Pharaoh's magicians were able to deceive every-
one, apart from Musa (as) and those who believed in him. However,
his evidence broke the spell, or "swallowed up what they had forged,"
as the verse puts it:
We revealed to Musa, "Throw down your staff." And it imme-
diately swallowed up what they had forged. So the Truth
took place and what they did was shown to be false. (Surat al-
A`raf: 117-118)
As we can see, when people realized that a spell had been cast
upon them and that what they saw was just an illusion, Pharaoh's ma-
gicians lost all credibility. In the present day too, unless those who,
under the influence of a similar spell, believe in these ridiculous claims
under their scientific disguise and spend their lives defending them,
abandon their superstitious beliefs, they also will be humiliated when
the full truth emerges and the spell is broken. In fact, world-renowned
British writer and philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge also stated this:
I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially the extent to
which it's been applied, will be one of the great jokes in the history books in
the future. Posterity will marvel that so very flimsy and dubious an hy-
pothesis could be accepted with the incredible credulity that it has.20
That future is not far off: On the contrary, people will soon see
that "chance" is not a deity, and will look back on the theory of evolu-
tion as the worst deceit and the most terrible spell in the world. That
spell is already rapidly beginning to be lifted from the shoulders of
people all over the world. Many people who see its true face are won-
dering with amazement how they could ever have been taken in by it.
They said, "Glory be to You!

We have no knowledge except
what You have taught us. You are
the All-Knowing, the All-Wise."
(Surat al-Baqara, 32)
133.
NOTES 12 Douglas J. Futuyma, Science on Trial,
Pantheon Books, New York, 1983. p. 197.
1 Sidney Fox, Klaus Dose, Molecular Evo-
13 Solly Zuckerman, Beyond the Ivory
lution and The Origin of Life, W.H. Free-
Tower, Toplinger Publications, New
man and Company, San Francisco, 1972,
York, 1970, pp. 75-14; Charles E. Oxnard,
p. 4.
"The Place of Australopithecines in
2 Alexander I. Oparin, Origin of Life,
Human Evolution: Grounds for Doubt,"
Dover Publications, NewYork, 1936,
Nature, vol 258, p. 389.
1953 (reprint), p. 196.
14 "Could science be brought to an end
3 "New Evidence on Evolution of Early
by scientists' belief that they have final
Atmosphere and Life," Bulletin of the
answers or by society's reluctance to pay
American Meteorological Society, vol 63,
the bills?" Scientific American, December
November 1982, p. 1328-1330.
1992, p. 20.
4 Stanley Miller, Molecular Evolution of
15 Alan Walker, Science, vol. 207, 7 March
Life: Current Status of the Prebiotic Synthe-
1980, p. 1103; A. J. Kelso, Physical Antro-
sis of Small Molecules, 1986, p. 7.
pology, 1st ed., J. B. Lipincott Co., New
5 Jeffrey Bada, Earth, February 1998, p.
York, 1970, p. 221; M. D. Leakey, Olduvai
40.
Gorge, vol. 3, Cambridge University
6 Leslie E. Orgel, "The Origin of Life on
Press, Cambridge, 1971, p. 272.
Earth," Scientific American, vol. 271,
16 Jeffrey Kluger, "Not So Extinct After
October 1994, p. 78.
All: The Primitive Homo Erectus May
7 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by
Have Survived Long Enough to Coexist
Means of Natural Selection, The Modern
With Modern Humans," Time, 23 Decem-
Library, New York, p. 127.
ber 1996.
8 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species: A
17 S. J. Gould, Natural History, vol. 85,
Facsimile of the First Edition, Harvard
1976, p. 30.
University Press, 1964, p. 184.
18 Solly Zuckerman, Beyond the Ivory
9 B. G. Ranganathan, Origins?, Pennsyl-
Tower, p. 19.
vania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1988,
19 Richard Lewontin, "The Demon-
p. 7.
Haunted World," The New York Review of
10 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species:
Books, 9 January, 1997, p. 28.
A Facsimile of the First Edition, Harvard
20 Malcolm Muggeridge, The End of
University Press, 1964, p. 179.
Christendom, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
11 Derek A. Ager, "The Nature of the
1980, p. 43.
Fossil Record," Proceedings of the British
Geological Association, vol 87, 1976, p.
ALSO BY HARUN YAHYA
Many people think that Darwin's When a person examines his
Theory of Evolution is a proven own body or any other living
fact. Contrary to this conventional thing in nature, the world or the
wisdom, recent developments in whole universe, in it he sees a
science completely disprove the great design, art, plan and in-
theory. This book clarifies the sci- telligence. All this is evidence
entific collapse of the theory of proving Allah's being, unit, and
evolution in a way that is detailed eternal power. For Men of
but easy to understand. Anyone Understanding .is also avail-
who wants to learn about the origin able in Indonesian, German,
of living things, including mankind, French, Urdu and Russian.
needs to read this book.
How was matter and time created Today, science has proven
from nothingness? What does the that the universe was created
Big Bang theory signify about the from nothing with a Big Bang.
creation of the universe? What is Everything from the nuclear
the parallelism between Einstein's reactions in stars to the chemi-
Theory of Relativity and the Qur'anic cal properties of a carbon
verses? All of these questions are atom or a water molecule, is
answered in this book. If you want to created in a glorious harmony.
learn the truths about space, matter, This is the exalted and flaw-
time and fate, read this book. less creation of Allah.
Fascism and communism, which People who are oppressed, who

made humanity suffer dark times, are tortured to death, those who
are fed from the same source, on cannot afford even a loaf of
the grounds of which they can at- bread, women, children, and old
tract masses to their side. This people who are expelled from
source is the materialist philosophy their homes because of their re-
and its adaptation to nature, which ligion… Eventually, there is only
is Darwinism. The acknowledge- one solution to the injustice,
ment of the scientific invalidity of chaos, hunger, and oppression:
this theory will bring about the end the values of the Qur'an.
of all these detrimental ideologies.
This book gets into detail on the Many societies that rebelled
issue of origins and makes a com- against the will of God or re-
prehensive and technical refuta- garded His messengers as en-
tion of Darwinist theory. As it is emies were wiped off the face
mentioned in the book, anyone of the earth completely...
who still defends the theory of evo- Perished Nations examines
lution has to come into terms with these penalties as revealed in
this book and face its challenge. the verses of the Quran and in
Otherwise, he will de facto accept light of archaeological discov-
that his allegiance to the theory of eries.
evolution is a non-scientific ap-
proach but a materialistic dogma.
When you read this book, you Never plead ignorance of
will see that Darwin's theory God's evident existence, that
has absolutely broken down, you will not stay so long in
just as he feared it would. A this world, of the reality of
thorough examination of the death, that the Qur'an is the
feathers of a bird, or the wing Book of truth, that you will
structure of a fly reveal amaz- give account for your deeds,
ingly complex designs. And of the voice of your con-
these designs indicate that science that always invites
they are created flawlessly by you to righteousness.
God.
This book is a summons to The world is a temporary

think. A summons to pon- place specially created by
der over the universe and God to test man. Each and
living beings and see how every attraction existing in the
they have been created world eventually wears out,
flawlessly. becomes corrupt, decays and
finally disappears. This book
leads man to ponder the real
place to which he belongs,
namely the hereafter.
In this book you will find ex- Scientific progress makes it

planations about eternity, clear that living beings have
timelessness and space- an extremely complex struc-
lessness that you will never ture and an order that is too
have encountered anywhere perfect to have come into
else and you will be con- being by accident. In this
fronted by the reality that book, the unique creation of
eternity has already begun. God is once again disclosed
for all to see.
When the events of "sickness"

The way to examine the uni-
and "recovering" take place, our
verse and all the beings
bodies become a battleground
therein and to discover
in which a bitter struggle is tak-
God's art of creation and an-
ing place. The body however
nounce it to humanity is "sci-
has a mechanism that combats
ence". Therefore, religion
them. This system proves that
adopts science as a way to
the human body is the outcome
reach the details of God's
of a unique design that has
creation. This book is about
been planned with a great wis-
this close link between sci-
dom and skill.
ence and religion.
The plan, design, and delicate Colours, patterns, spots

balance existing in our bodies even lines of each living
and reaching into even the re- being existing in nature
motest corners of the iuni- have a meaning. An atten-
verse must surely have a su- tive eye would immediately
perior Creator. Man is unable recognise that not only the
to see his Creator yet he can living beings, but also every-
nevertheless grasp His exis- thing in nature are just as
tence, strength, and wisdom they should be.
by means of his intellect.
The information hidden inside Just as a tiny key opens a
DNA controls the thousands of huge door, this book will
different events that take place open new horizons for its
in the cells of the human body readers. Relating the
and in the functioning of its sys- amazing and admirable
tems. In the same way that features of spiders known
every book has a writer and by few people, this book
owner, so does the information reveals the excellence and
in DNA: and that Creator is our perfection inherent in
Lord God, the All-Wise. God's creation.
These millimeter-sized animals The purpose of this book is

have an excellent ability for or- to display the miraculous
ganization and specialization features of plants and
that is not to be matched by any hence to make people see
other being on earth. These as- "the creation miracle" in
pects of ants create in one a things -they often en-
great admiration for God's su- counter in the flow of their
perior power and unmatched daily lives and sidestep.
creation.
This book maintains that the The content of this book is

source of the scourge of terror- an extremely important
ism does not come from a di- truth:"All events, people,
vine religion, and that there is buildings, cities, cars,
no room for terrorism in Islam. places, which are a part of
our life in this world, in
short, everything we see,
hold, touch, smell, taste
and hear, are actually illu-
sions and sensations that
form in our brain."
This book deals with how the This book reveals what a
theory of evolution is invali- serious threat romanticism
dated by scientific findings and poses to societies and indi-
experiments in a concise and viduals, and shows how
simple language. easy it is to eliminate this
danger.
The theory of evolution has been Fascism is an ideology that

on the agenda for 150 years, has brought great disasters
deeply affecting numerous peo- to humanity. The main pur-
ples' outlook on life. It imposes on pose of the book is to pres-
them the lie that they are an "ani- ent various fascist tenden-
mal species" that came into being cies which appear under dif-
as a result of coincidences. In this ferent methods and guises,
book, commonly asked ques- and expose their real origins
tions about the theory of evolu- and objectives.
tion and evolutionary claims on
these issues are answered.
The unprecedented style and Moses is the prophet whose
the superior wisdom inherent life is most narrated in the
in the Qur'an is conclusive evi- Qur'an. This book provides a
dence confirming that it is the thorough examination into the
Word of God. In this book, in life of the Prophet Moses (as)
addition to the scientific mira- in the light of the Qur'anic
cles of the Qur'an, you will also verses.
find messages regarding the
future.
Everything that constitutes our This book presents the philos-

life is a totality of perceptions ophy of freemasonry, and pro-
received by our soul. In the vides a detailed account of
book, which consists of a con- how this philosophy infiltrated
versation between four peo- first into the West, and then
ple, the prejudices that pre- into other civilizations of the
vent people from understand- world. The main theme can be
ing this great truth are re- summed up as "the history of
moved, and the misconcep- the war that freemasonry
tions they have are explained. waged against religion."
A person who examines any In the Qur'an, God tells people

corner of the universe sees a many secrets. For people who
flawless plan incorporating learn these secrets of the
both order and design. Qur'an, however, the life of this
Everywhere in the universe world is very easy, and full of
there prevails an admirable joy and excitement. This book
glory. This glory is the superior deals with the subjects God re-
and matchless artistry of God, lated to people as a secret.
Who creates everything.
God, in the Qur'an, calls the God creates every word one
culture of people who are not utters, and every event one
subject to the religion of God experiences, from the moment
"ignorance." The purpose of one is born into tis world. For a
this book is to take this com- believer who understands this
parison further, displaying the fact, uninterrupted joy of faith
extent of the "crude under- becomes an unchanging qual-
standing" of ignorant soci- ity of life. The fate decreed by
eties. God is flawless.
There are questions about This book, based on the verses

religion that people seek an- of the Qur'an, makes a detailed
swers to and hope to be en- depiction of the moment of
lightened in the best way. In death, the day of judgement,
these booklets, you will find and the penalties in hell, and it
the most accurate answers to sounds a warning about the
all the questions you seek great danger facing us.
answers for and learn your
responsibilities towards your
Creator.
This book is a summons to The Qur'an has been re-
those who want goodness to vealed to us so that we
prevail: it calls on them to do may read and ponder. The
goodness and to form an al- Basic Concepts of the
liance with other good people Qur'an is a useful re-
like themselves. source prepared as a
guide to thinking.
Based on the information con- This book introduces the

veyed in the Qur'an, this book real concept of con-
gives an account of God's at- science that is related in
tributes, our purpose in this the Qur'an and draws our
world, what we have to do to attention to the kind of un-
fulfill this purpose. derstanding, thought, and
wisdom that a truly consci-
entious person has.
The purpose of this book is to This book includes Internet

present the Prophet pages of Islamic organiza-
Mohammed (pbuh) in all the as- tions, and various universi-
pects of his character, show ties, where you can
how superior a community findHarun Yahya's works,
made up of individuals who em- and reviews written by vari-
ulate his character will be, and ous scholars, together with
call people to the way of the an account of the reactions
Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). from the fairs and confer-
ences that have presented
the author's works.
In the Qur'an, there is an ex- In order for justice to reign

plicit reference to the "second on the Earth, a morality
coming of the Jesus to the that will make people
world" which is heralded in a leave their own interests
hadith. The realisation of some aside in favor of justice is
information revealed in the needed. This morality is
Qur'an about Jesus can only the Qur'anic morality that
be possible by Jesus' second God teaches and com-
coming… mands us.
The most serious mistake a That people do not adopt

man makes is not pondering. the moral values of the
It is not possible to find the Qur'an and submit to God
truth unless one thinks about underlie the personal and
basic questions such as "How social depression, pain,
and why am I here?", "Who fears and lack of confi-
created me?", or "Where am I dence that is widely experi-
going?." enced today. This book ex-
plains the detriments that
disbelief gives to people.
A study that examines and The Qur'an has been sent
seeks to remind us of the down as a book easily under-
basic moral principles of the standable by everyone. In this
Qur'an, particularly those that book, the reasons why those
are most likely to be forgotten people misinterpret the Qur'an
or neglected at times. This are examined and some ex-
book is also available in amples of the objections they
Bengoli. make are reviewed and an-
swered.
In this book, all ideologies The purpose of this book is to

based on disbelief are re- warn people against the day on
ferred to as "the religions of which they will say "If only we
irreligion." That is simply be- did not rebel against God. If
cause these ideologies have only we listened to the mes-
in time evolved to become sengers…" and therefore feel
religions with a complete deep regret.
system of beliefs, practices,
and rules for conducting
one's daily life.
Some of the sayings of the A believer who decides to live

Prophet Muhammad (saas) for the cause of God must
have to do with the signs of abandon all the idols of the so-
the last day. In this book, the ciety of ignorance Devoted to
signs of the last day are ex- God is a summons to over-
amined in the light of the throw these idols for good.
verses and the sayings of the
Prophet Muhammad (saas).
Devil has found allies for him- This book is about the enthusi-
self in every age. The anti- asm of believers that keeps
Christ, who will emerge as the growing until the end of their
greatest negative power in lives. The main aim of the book
the end times, is one of them. is to increase the enthusiasm
The purpose of this book is to of believers showing them
portray the anti-Christ in all its what a great blessing enthusi-
features as described in the asm is, and how it enhances
sayings of the Prophet the power of believers.
Muhammad (saas).
One of the principal decep- This book, based on the verses

tions that impel people into of the Qur'an, makes a detailed
delinquency is the fact that depiction of the moment of
they constantly forget the death, the day of judgement,
basic facts of life. This book and the penalties in hell, and it
summons man to remember sounds a warning about the
facts that his soul prompts great danger facing us.
him to forget.
This is a book you will read This booklet, includes sum-
with pleasure and as it maries of all the works of
makes explicitly clear why Harun Yahya. Anyone who
the theory of evolution is reads these books seriously
the greatest aberration in and carefully will soon gain a
the history of science. deep insight into the true na-
ture of the world he lives in.
Have you ever thought

Dear kids, while reading this
about the vast dimensions
book you will see how God has
of the universe we live in?
created all the creatures in the
As you read this book, you
most beautiful way and how
will see that our universe
every one of them show us His
and all the living things
endless beauty, power and
therein are created in the
knowledge. The World of
most perfect way by our
Animals is also available in
Creator, God. This chil-
French and Russian.
dren's book is also avail-
able in Russian.
Children! Have you ever What do you think about ants?

asked yourself questions Do you know about their abili-
like these: How did our ties and intelligent behavior?
earth come into existence? Do you know why Omar is fas-
Where were you before you cinated by the little world of the
were born? How did ants? If you want to learn the
oceans, trees, animals ap- answers to these questions,
pear on earth? Who was the read this book.
first human being? In this
book you will find the true
answers to these questions.
Dear children, while reading When you read this book you
this book, you will see how will learn a great deal about
God has created all the beavers. You will learn that
creatures in the most beau- Karim's new friends build intri-
tiful way and how every one cate constructions with innate
of them show us His end- skills. And finally, you will learn
less beauty, power and that it is God, Who endowed
knowledge. them with these skills.
Omar meets his friend, hon- Children, the wide world you
eybee, in a trip to a forest. enter as you read this book is
The honeybee tells him how one of enormous concern to
they build honeycombs, you. You may not have realized
what kind of an order there it so far, but trillions of workers
is in their hive, and many are currently working on your
other things. At the end of behalf in this giant world. You
this visit, Omar learns that it will learn how these workers in
is our Lord, God, Who your body, the wide world in
taught honeybees every- question, are cells, far too small
thing they know. to be visible to the naked eye.
Countless species live on the earth, some This book gives an insight into
of which you will be familiar with, and oth- some good moral aspects of the
ers not. Each one of these creatures, Karma philosophy which are in
from the dogs or cats which you come agreement with the Koran, as well
across every day, to the wild animals liv- as its twisted views which conflict
ing in the jungle, have wonderful features with human reason and con-
and fascinating abilities. All of these are a science. The book also explains
reflection of God's infinite power and why following God's way and liv-
artistry. In this book, you will read about ing by the Qur'an is the only way
the interesting features and amazing ac- to real happiness, peace, and se-
complishments of these wonderful crea- curity.
tures.
A person having fear of God naturally The main purpose of this book is to
shows mercy for His servants and treats fully reveal the plight of oppressed
them kindly. Yet it is essential to distin- Muslims across the world, and to in-
guish between the concept of mercy, as vite people of conscience to think on
conceived by people of ignorance, and this reality and look for solutions. The
the mercy described in the Qur'an. This expected spring is, by the will of God,
book was written for that purpose. to come soon.
Some religious people think that the the- This book maintains that only love,
ory of evolution is a scientific fact and look tolerance and peace can eradicate
for a "middle way" between this theory and terrorism and reveals, with quota-
belief in God. However, in truth, the ideo- tions from the Qur'an, the New
logical framework behind the theory con- Testament and the Torah, that ter-
sists of anti-religious thought put forward rorism is a form of savagery con-
to strengthen atheism. This book is aimed demned by all divine religions. With
at offering a response to those Muslims examples from history, the book
who try to find common ground between demonstrates that the only way to
the theory of evolution and the fact of cre- fight terrorism is to embrace the
ation, and who even try to find evidence sentiments fostered by the values of
for the theory in the Qur'an. religion, such as love, compassion,
forgiveness, tolerance and justice.
The creation of man, who is endowed with Being a true servant of God and
a highly complicated body structure, from conducting one's life in the light of
a drop of water, comes about through an the Qur'an require a sound knowl-
extraordinary course of development. edge of the Qur'an. This book is
This development certainly does not hap- prepared for those who aim to at-
pen as the result of an idle process, and tain the good pleasure, mercy,
random coincidences, but is a conscious and Paradise of God.
act of creation. This book is about the de-
tails of the "miracle in man's creation".
The adjective "perfected" (kamil) carries Are you aware of the beauties that
the meaning inclusive, entire and com- are presented by the Qur'an for
plete. The "perfected faith" discussed in human life? Have you ever thought
this book represents the highest level of about the benefits a person and so-
maturity and depth of faith a person can ciety have when they follow the
never attain. commandments of the Qur'an?
With this book, you will also recog-
nise the beauties presented by the
Qur'an for life.
This book has been prepared to Man is a being to which
demonstrate that the Qur'an is God has granted the faculty
the word of God, it is a guide and of thinking. Yet a majority of
a reminder, it addresses every- people fail to employ this
one in the world, and its pro- faculty as they should…
nouncements are valid for all The purpose of this book is
times, right from the time of its to summon people to think
revelation. It is therefore the in the way they should and
most important source everyone to guide them in their efforts
must refer to. For man to be to think. This book is also
guided to the truth, it is impera- available in Indonesian.
tive that he know Islam and
comprehend the verses of the
Qur'an.
This book is about sincerity, an In a body that is made up of

important characteristic of be- atoms, you breathe in air,
lievers which makes deeds wor- eat food, and drink liquids
thy and meaningful in God's that are all composed of
sight. Sincerity (ikhlas) is doing atoms. In this book, the im-
everything simply because God plausibility of the sponta-
ordered it, without expecting any neous formation of an atom,
personal benefit in return. In the the building-block of every-
Qur'an, God gives the good tid- thing, living or non-living, is
ings of paradise to His sincere related and the flawless na-
servants. ture of God's creation is
demonstrated.
AUDIO CASSETTE SERIES

THE FACT OF CREATION
The titles in this series include The

Theory of Evolution The Fact of
Creation, The Creation of the
Universe/The Balances in the Earth,
The Miracle in the Cell/The Miracle
of Birth, The Miracle in the Eye/The
Miracle in the Ear, The Design in
Animals/The Design in Plants, The
Miracle in the Honeybee/The Miracle
in the Ant, The Miracle in the
Mosquito/The Miracle in the Spider,
Self-Sacrifice in Living
Things/Migration and Orientation,
The Miracle of Creation in DNA,
Miracles of the Qur'an.
EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE TRUTH? I
The titles in this series include Ever

Thought About the Truth?, Devoted to God,
The Mature Faith, The Religion of the
Ignorant, The Crude Understanding of
Disbelief, The Importance of Conscience in
the Qur'an, Never Forget, Before You
Regret, Death Hereafter Hell, Paradise.
EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE TRUTH? II
The titles in this series include The Fear of

God, The Nightmare of Disbelief, The
Struggle of the Religion of Irreligion,
Beauties Presented by the Qur'an for L‹fe,
The Arrogance of Satan, The Mercy of
Believers, The Iniquity Called Mockery,
Perished Nations, The Secret Beyond
Matter, Timelessness and The Reality of
Fate.
The works of Harun Yahya

are also produced in the
form of documentary films
and audio cassettes. In ad-
dition to English, some of
these products are also
available in English,
Arabic, German, and
The audio cassettes Perished Nations The Collapse of Russian.
and The Dark Face of Darwin were in- Evolution The
spired by the works of Harun Yahya Fact of Creation
audio cassette is
also available in
Russian.
VIDEO FILMS
The works of Harun Yahya

are also produced in the
form of documentary films
and audio cassettes. In
addition to English, some
of these products are also
available in English,
Arabic, German, and
Russian.
HARUN YAHYA ON THE INTERNET
YOU CAN FIND ALL THE WORKS OF HARUN YAHYA ON THE INTERNET
• Scientific refutation of Darwinism, the greatest deception of our age.

• Dozens of books including hundreds of pages of information about the signs of God's
creation.
• Extremely valuable works that will guide you to think on the real aspects of life by read-
ing the morals of the Qur'an.
• Harun Yahya's political, scientific and faith-related articles that have appeared in vari-
ous magazines and newspapers around the world.
• Audio recordings and documentary videos inspired by the works of Harun Yahya.
• And many more attractive presentations...
www.harunyahya.com
e-mail: info@harunyahya.com
www.unionoffaiths.com www.miraclesofthequran.com
e-mail: info@unionoffaiths.com info@miraclesofthequran.com
www.perishednations.com www.jesuswillreturn.com
e-mail: info@perishednations.com e-mail: info@jesuswillreturn.com
www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com www.islamdenouncesantisemitism.com
e-mail: info@islamdenouncesterrorism.com e-mail: info@islamdenouncesantisemitism.com
www.endoftimes.net www.evolutiondocumentary.com
info@endoftimes.net e-mail: info@evolutiondocumentary.com
www.creationofuniverse.com www.freebookcenter.net
e-mail: info@creationofuniverse.com e-mail: info@freebookcenter.net
www.secretbeyondmatter.com www.darwinismrefuted.com
e-mail: info@secretbeyonmatter.com e-mail: info@darwinismrefuted.com
www.bookglobal.net www.insight-magazine.com
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e-mail: info@insight-magazine.com
www.truthsforkids.com www.for-kids.com
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NEW WEBSITE
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email:info@darwinism-watch.com

Why Do You Deceive Yourself

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Why Do You Deceive Yourself

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In the name of Allah, All-Merciful, Most Merciful

Translated by: Keith Dearn

O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord?

All the author's books explain faith-related issues in light of Qur'anic

In addition, it will be a great service to Islam to contribute to the publica-

O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord?

Now writing under the pen-name of HARUN YAHYA, he was

Remembering the Purpose of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Being Sincerely Religious without Deceiving Yourself . . . . . . . . . .20

What Lies Do People Deceive Themselves With? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

The End Awaiting Those Who Deceive Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . .64

The Advantages of Sincerity over Self-Deception . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

The Deception of Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

he lifestyles and life goals of the millions of people who live

T in non-religious communities are very similar to one another.

There are various defense mechanisms which people use to ig-

responsibilities to Allah. They never consider the possibility that the

Because of that We showed Ibrahim the dominions of the

yourself to worldly aims. The real purpose of your presence in the

n the previous chapter we began by looking at what is around

derstand what an extraordinary process this is.

world is miraculous in the extreme, he is inclined to fail to see and feel

Faith in the Hereafter

these people avoid intelligent reasoning and common rationality, sim-

riod he was granted as follows:

faced with Satan's wiles. Satan approaches these misguided people

instead to the impulse which directs you to gain Allah's approval. In

Diversions and Distractions

believe it will be to your advantage in the Hereafter, give it up. Devote

artist aims to be well known by everybody in his own country, loved

atan tries to attract people to his path with a variety of decep-

S tive stratagems, blandishments and promises. By making

Those who say: "It didn't occur to me,

Of course, the concept of thinking means different things to dif-

worldly ambitions puts what he sees down to chance and overlooks

People who say: "I knew but the time and

but I'm in a very stressful environment."

Those who claim illness and fatigue

knows everything. No human act or thought is a secret from Allah.

The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur'an was

you are grateful, He is pleased with you for that. No burden-

Those who say: "Allah will forgive me anyway"

Those who think they are going to Paradise

Allah and waste countless opportunities on his own selfish desires

the people who are righteous." (Surah Yusuf: 101)

People who say: "I was just doing

Underlying the principle of conforming to the majority is the

Those who say: "I am following scientific progress"

and in which immorality of every type becomes widespread.

t the beginning of this book we said that Prophet Ibrahim

A (as) realized the existence and greatness of Allah and imme-

hroughout eternity a person is tested only once and this pe-

T riod of testing is made up, on average, of six or seven

arwinism, in other words the theory of evolution, was put

D forward with the aim of denying the fact of creation, but is

The Scientific Collapse of Darwinism

In this section, we will examine these three basic points in general

The First Insurmountable Step:

"Life Comes From Life"

Similarly, maggots developing in rotting meat was assumed to be

Inconclusive Efforts of the Twentieth Century

The Complex Structure of Life

whose main purpose is to deny creation.

Imaginary Mechanism of Evolution